European Proceedings Logo

Understanding Person References in Workplace Gossip Among a Group of Malay Professionals

Table 1: Types of person references (Stivers et al., 2007)

Category Person reference
Absolute A person specific name Identify an individual- convey information about the referentMay/ may not pick out particular attributes of the individual Stable- attributes do not automatically reflect specific communicative intent
Relative (having the connection with) Possessed kin terms ‘My aunt’ Associate the referent to the propositus A person is identified via kin relation term The referent is associated with some chosen attributes
Other triangulation‘Roger’s lawyer’
A novel description‘the girl who wears orange’
< Back to article