REFERENCE

Referring expression

Noun phrase

A word group with a noun or pronoun as

its head.
 NOUN PHRASE (NP)

SINGLE NOUN HEAD NOUN + MODIFIER

DIANA DOGS FIERCE DOGS

THE BOOKS YOU BOUGHT

HEAD NOUN + DETERMINER

HER DOGS

THE BAGS
 REFERENT

The thing = not necessarily physical or real

WAYS OF REFERRING

My cat, that cat, our cat

Different referring expressions, different ways

of referring, possibly the same referent
 REFERRING EXPRESSION

Noun phrase used in an utterance, linked to something

outside language
(living, dead or imaginary entity/concept/
group of entities/concepts)
A referring expression is not a referent

The noun phrase An apple is a referring

expression, but it is not an apple.

There is no direct correspondence between

referring expressions and the things in the
world.
A referring expression does not guarantee
the existence of a referent in the physical-social world

Fictitious referents: There is a unicorn outside

Referring expression: used to identify, even if the

identification may be valid temporarily.

the boy wearing sun glasses

Frege (German mathematician and logic 1848-1925)
makes a distinction between sense and reference

Two or more referring expressions may have the

same referent, but not necessarily the same
meaning.

Identity relations

a=a a=b

What is the difference between saying

a = a and a = b?
The morning star is the morning star

a=a Common sense statement

The morning star is the evening star

a=b

a = b represents acquisition of knowledge:

Venus
Sense: the way through which an expression
produces reference
Different ways of presenting the same referent.
Different senses.
 Different kinds of referents

unique & non-unique

(fixed reference & variable reference)

concrete & abstract

(literal meaning & figurative meaning)

countable & non-countable