ABSTRACT
The speech-function we are to be concerned with, then, is the function of identifying reference to a particular historical item, when such reference occurs as a sub-function of statement. This chapter explains identifying reference - or the central case of identifying reference - as essentially involving a presumption, on the speaker's part, of the possession by the audience of identifying knowledge of a particular item. The notion of identifying reference is to be understood in close relation to the notion of identifying knowledge. The issue between the truth-value gap theory and the falsity theory, which has loomed so large in this whole area of discussion, has done so in a way which might be misleading, which might give a false impression. The distinction between identifying reference and uniquely existential assertion is something quite undeniable. One who accepts the truth-value gap theory is bound to reject the Theory of Descriptions as a generally correct analysis.
