Using Names for Referring without Claiming Shared Knowledge: Name-Quoting Descriptors in Japanese.

When a speaker refers to someone or something in talk-in-interaction, s/he may be doing more than simply referring with a reference form. This article examines a type of reference form, “name-quoting descriptor” (e.g., “person named X”), used in Japanese. I show that the name-quoting descriptor is used for claiming the referent’s “epistemic distance,” i.e., for claiming that the referent is not within the shared territory of knowledge between speaker and recipient, and thereby carries out several interactional tasks in addition to referring. This finding contributes to research on reference practices and epistemics. Data are in Japanese with English translation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]