ABSTRACT
A pragmatic theory of reference is a theory that specifies and explains the human competence to use referring expressions in order to achieve certain goals. Since the relation between referring expressions and speaker's goals is what needs explaining, it is natural to consider referring as planned action. The literal goals of all speech acts are to affect the hearer's prepositional attitudes in a particular way. The literal goal of the referring act must be, therefore, to make the hearer believe that it is mutually believed by all participants that a noun phrase is being used as a referring expression, and that "identification" of a particular object is required. Reference in the real world differs greatly from the reference processes modelled in current natural language systems. A speaker in the real world is a rational agent who must make a decision about his description in a limited time, with limited resources, knowledge, and abilities.
