referential indices

A term used in GENERATIVE GRAMMAR (since the ASPECTS MODEL) to refer to markers attached to a set of items in a SENTENCE to show identity or difference of REFERENCE. For example, both the sentences (a) The dog saw the dog and (b) The dog saw itself could, on one analysis, be derived from the same UNDERLYING structure The dog saw the dog. To mark the difference, sentence (a) would be marked as The dog_i saw the dog_j , whereas (b) would be The dog_i saw the dog_i . Items marked with the same referential-index variable are CO-REFERENTIAL; with different indices they are non-co-referential. In later work, the term CO-INDEXING is used.