Reference and Sense

Fatimah Az Zahra (11200260000116)

Haykal Denyut Pertama (11200260000114)
Luthfia Kamila (11200260000137)
Siti Fatimah (11200260000126)
 Table of Contents
The Relationship of
Meaning, Sense, and
01 concept - word - object in 02 Reference
semantics

03 Kinds of Referents 04 Ways of Referring

05 Opaque Context 06 Equative Sentences

 01 The relationship of concept - word -
object in semantics
Understanding how concepts, words, and objects relate to one another is essential to
understanding how language reflects and communicates meaning, according to semantics. The
link between lexical semantics and cognitive linguistics is frequently studied in this context.
Let's examine each element of this connection:
Concept:
A notion is a mental image we have in our heads that represents an idea or a category. Concepts
are intangible representations of how we perceive the world. They may be connected to actual
things (such as the concept of "dog" for a hairy, four-legged animal) or to abstract ideas (such as
the concept of "love" for a sophisticated emotional state).
 Sense and Reference
Word:
Language uses linguistic units called
words to express and describe ideas. Our
mental concepts and the outside world are
connected by words. Every word in a
language has a concept or set of concepts
attached to it. For instance, the term
"apple" conjures up images of a certain
fruit.
Object:
Objects are the tangible or intangible things that
exist in the outside world. These might be
concrete things like real things (like a chair or a
tree) or abstract ideas (like justice or freedom).
When words are used to refer to or describe
objects, the relationship between words and
objects becomes clear.
 02 Meaning, sense, and reference

In philosophy and linguistics, the terms "meaning", "sense," and "reference" are ideas
that aid in explaining how words and phrases convey meaning in language. They were first
proposed by German mathematician and philosopher Gottlob Frege, and they have had a
significant impact on the study of language and meaning.

Meaning:
In a linguistic sense, meaning is the overarching idea that a word, phrase, sentence, or
utterance transmits. While including sense and reference, it also incorporates all other facets
of language comprehension and usage.
 Sense and Reference
Sense:
Sense describes how we interpret a word
or expression meaning in the context of
language. It is the notion or concept in the
mind that is connected to a word or
phrase. In addition to a word's definition,
sense takes into account the word's
implications, subtleties, and placement
within the larger framework of language.
Reference:
Reference examines how language and the
outside world interact. When we speak or
write, we frequently allude to or refer to
things in the outside world. The actual
thing or idea that a term refers to in the
real world is known as its reference. For
instance, the term "cat" describes the real
cats that live in the world. the referential
meaning of the words above is a type of
animal.
03 Kind of Referents
A referent is the concrete object or
concept that is designated by a word
or expression. Words are used to
represent things and experiences in
the real or imagined world. Different
words can be used to describe the
same thing or experience.
a. Variable Referent b. Constant Referent
O One word O One word
O Many expressions O Many expressions
O Refer to different type of O Refer to same thing
that object
example :
example : a. Planet
a. The word ‘bank’ b. Monalisa
b. The word ‘orange’
 Ways of Referring
There are 3 kinds of referring expressions:

· Proper names, which have unique reference like Lake Ontario or Barbara Collins

· Pronouns, such as she, he, they, we, etc.

· Anaphora is when a particular word/phrase is used repeatedly within a speech/text to add artistic
effect
1. Generic and Non-Generic Reference

What seems to be the same referring expression may have quite different

kinds of reference, as in the following sentences.

Examples:

5a A dog makes a fine pet.

5b Dogs make fine pets.

6a A dog is lying in the middle of the street.

6b Dogs are lying in the middle of the street.

Sentence 5a and 5b are equivalent and has generic reference because it refers to dog in general.

Sentence 6a and 6b are not equivalent and do not answer the question “which dog?” but the question is relevant.
2. Specific and Non-Specific Reference

8a We have a dog.

8b We’d like to have a dog.

In sentence 8a, the word “dog” refers to dog in general, meanwhile in sentence 8b “the dog” might be a certain dog.

3. Definite and Indefinite Reference

The definite determiner the occurs in a referring expression when the speaker assumes that the listener can identify the
referent or when identification is made part of the referring expression.

Examples: - I’ve got the tickets

- I’ve got the tickets that you wanted

Indefinite determiners such as a(n), some and zero, indicate that the referent is part of a larger entity.

When the referring expression is definite, the speaker assumes that the referent can be identified by the addressee
for one of four reasons. If none of these reasons applies, the speaker provides the identification.
1. When the speaker assumes that the hearer can identify the referent from

the physical-social context—a form of deixis.

Example: Take the cups off the table and put them in the cabinet.

2. When the speaker assumes that the addressee can make the necessary implicature to relate a new reference
to a previous one.

Example: This was the site of the old Stanwick Teather. The stage was over here

and the lobby was over there.

3. The reference is fixed and therefore presumably part of the addressee’s

general knowledge, like Lake Ontario. A referring expression with
fixed reference is always definite.
 4. The referent, while not unique in the way that Lake Ontario is unique, has a unique or nearly unique
position in the more limited world of the speaker and addressee.
Examples:
- Careful! You might wake the baby.
- Have you received the reports from the doctor?

Referring expressions like these are much the same as names. Names like Richard and Barbara are
definite and specific as referring expressions even though there are numerous people so named, just as
there are numerous babies, reports and doctors.

If none of these conditions obtains, the referent is specified by the speaker through some complement or
modifier in the referring expression—with the presumption that the complement or modifier makes the referent
clear to the addressee.

Examples:
- The salesman who came here yesterday was back again today.
- I’d like to look at the gold ring with a small ruby on the top shelf of
that display case.
 05 Opaque context

Opaque context is a part of a sentence that can be a full sentence with an addition of a referring
expression, but if there's two different refering expression that refer to the same things or person it
will create different meanings when said in certain contexts

Examples :

"Nancy wants to get married when the Morning star is in the sky" and "Nancy wants to married
when the Evening star in the night"
assuming that Nancy doesn't know that both were nicknames for the planet venus, the two
sentence will have different meanings
 06 Equative Sentence

Equative sentence is when asserting two different referring expression that have the same
referent

Example:
- That boy over there is my brother
- Joe Biden is the president
 Thanks!
Do you have any questions?

CREDITS: This presentation template was created by

Slidesgo, including icons by Flaticon and infographics
& images by Freepik

Please keep this slide for attribution