UNIT 2: REFERENCE & SENSE

I. Definition
1. Reference: is the relationship between language and the world (word – object). In other words, that is the
relationship between words and the things, actions, events, and qualities they stand for.
Ex: My son refers to a person; a dog refers to an animal. (the speaker establishes a relationship between an
expression and an object).
2. Referent: is the thing the speaker is talking about, the object referred to.
Ex: This page (the page the speaker is reading; Ex: page 15)
The cassette player (the object on the table)
3. Sense: is the relationship between semantically related expressions (word – word) in the language to
express the meaning. (synonyms, definition)
Ex: Bachelor means unmarried man (the same sense)
“to buy” and “to purchase” have the same sense.
II. Types of reference
1. Variable Reference:
The same expression may be used to refer to different objects. In other words, the referent of an expression
varies with the speaker.
Ex: “My mother” (referring to the mother of the speaker) may refer to different ladies depending on
different speakers.
2. Same Reference / Co-reference:
Different expressions refer to the same object. In other words, the same object has different names
Ex: HCM City and Saigon: both refer to the same city.
Hà Nội and The Capital of Việt Nam.
3. Constant Reference:
One expression always refers to the same object, (regardless the speaker).
 Proper names, especially geographical names: John Smith, David, Vietnam, Cambodia …
 Unique things: the sun, the moon, the earth, the east, the west, Halley’s Comet…
4. No reference:
An expression which is meaningful but does not refer to anything.
 Function words: and, but, if …
 Imaginary characters: Batman, Dragon, Superman, Snow White, Tấm Cám …
 The objects that do not exist now.
Ex: The king of France is bald (France does not have any king nowadays)
The Queen of Vietnam nowadays is a Cambodian. (no VN queen now)
III. Referring expression
1. Definition:
A referring expression ‘is any expression used in an utterance to refer to someone or something particular.
(On the part of the speaker)
Ex: “My father” refers to a particular person → my father → a referring expression.
“Fred hit me”; ‘Fred’ refers to a particular person → Fred → a referring expression.
“There is no Fred at this address”; “Fred” is not a referring expression because in this case the speaker
would not have any particular person in mind.
2. Some clues of referring expression
 Possessive: my friend, Paul’s hat …
 Demonstrative: this book, that machine …
 Proper name: Smith, David, Vietnam …
 Personal pronouns (only when being uttered): I, You, He …
 Constant reference (unique thing): the sun, the moon, the earth, the east, the west.
 Past tense: helps to recognize Referring Expression
Ex: I saw a boy yesterday
Yesterday, I met a singer