In the present study, we investigate if and when speakers refer
to moving entities in route directions (RDs). On the one hand,
there is a general agreement that landmarks should be
perceptually salient and stable objects. On the other hand,
animated movement attracts visual attention, making entities
intrinsically salient. In two experiments, we tested to what
extent people are prepared to use moving entities. Our results
show that participants mention moving entities when the
communicative setting affords such references (route
directions in a joint communicative setting) and when the
movement is informative for the place where a turn should be
taken.
