The role of prior knowledge and expertise on choice of referring expression

Referential success depends on choice of referring expression. The choice of referring expression will depend on contextual factors as well as factors related to speaker and addressee knowledge. A shared-learning paradigm was used in which partners learned names of objects together and separately before a referential task. Items differed on commonality, with some independently rated as more common and some as more rare. Speakers were less likely to use names versus other forms when items were rare than common (p<0.001) and less likely to use names when items were new than learned together (p<0.001). Asymmetry effects showed that speakers were more likely to use a name when the addressee was deemed more knowledgeable in post-test ratings (p<0.01). Together, we take this to show speakers choose to use a name versus a description based on the likelihood that their interlocutor will know the name. Factors affecting the likelihood include prior knowledge of what a typical addressee will know and shared experience, which includes inferring an interlocutor’s expertise, as dynamically updated during a dialog.