REFERENCE AND

SENSE
 Sense

Reference

Referring expressions
What to
study? Definite and indefinite noun
phrases as referring expressions

Universe of discourse

Deixis
1. Sense and reference
REVIEW
 SAME
SAME

SAME
SAME
SAME
Sense versus reference

• relationships
• relationships between language and the world

sense reference
inside the
language
 Reference
By means of reference, a speaker indicates which things
in the world (including persons) are being talked about.
Example:
 Reference
This room
Your left hand
=> Reference is the relationship between parts of
the language and things outside the language (in
the world)
=> One expression may have variable reference
Practice
George W. Bush

variable reference

George W. Bush
Bill Clinton
Variable reference Constant reference
 Reference
One expression can have variable reference.
Some expressions may have constant reference.
Two or more different expressions can have the same
referent.
Example?
What is the reference of
My mother?
My pride?
My anger?

SENSE
 Sense
The SENSE of an expression is its place in a system of
semantic relationships with other expressions in the
language.
Example:
A word can have more than one
sense.
A sentence can also have more
than one sense.
 => The word ‘bank’
has at least 4 senses.
Note: Find examples for each of the note
below.
1. Every expression that has meaning has
sense, but not every expression has
reference.
2. To the extent that perfect translation
between languages is possible, essentially
the same sense can be said to belong to
expressions in different languages.
3. Different dialects of one language may
also have the same sense.
Review of sense and reference
Review of sense and reference
2. Referring
expressions
Note:
The same expression can be a referring expression or
not (or, as some would put it, may or may not have a
‘referring interpretation’), depending on the context.
3. Definite and indefinite NPs
as referring expressions
=> The context does not always indicate whether an indefinite noun
phrase can be a referring expression or not.
=> Indefinite noun phrases may or may not be a
referring expression.
Definite noun phrases are mostly referring
expressions.
Proper names: John, Peter, etc.
Pronouns: He, she, we, it, etc.
Long descriptive expressions: The man who
stands in front of the class
There are circumstances when definite noun
phrases are not referring expression.
Example?
4. Universe of discourse
Definition:

We define the UNIVERSE OF DISCOURSE for any

utterance as the particular world, real or imaginary (or part
real, part imaginary), that the speaker assumes he is talking
about at the time.

Example:
 When an astronomy lecturer, in a serious lecture, states that the Earth
revolves around the Sun, the universe of discourse is, we all assume, the real
world (or universe).
 When I tell my children a bedtime story and say ‘The dragon set fire to the
woods with his hot breath’, the universe of discourse is not the real world but a
fictitious world.
=> Assuming the same universe of discourse is essential to successful
communication.
Most words mean what they mean regardless
of who uses them, and when and where they
are used.
All languages do contain small sets of words
whose meanings vary systematically according
to who uses them, and where and when they
are used. These words are called deictic
words.
The general phenomenon of their occurrence
is called deixis.
The word deixis is from a Greek word meaning
pointing.
5. Deixis
A DEICTIC word is one
which takes some element of
its meaning from the Dodge city
context or situation (i.e. the
speaker, the addressee, the
time and the place) of the Fresno, California
utterance in which it is used.

A referring expression modified by this refers to an entity (place, person, thing

etc.) at or near the actual place of the utterance in which it is used.
Ex:
The first person singular pronoun I is
deictic.When Ben Heasley says ‘I’ve November, 2nd , 2005
lost the contract’, the word I here refers
to Ben Heasley.
When Penny Carter May, 3rd , 2005
says ‘I’ll send you another one’, the I
here refers to Penny Carter.
Yesterday refers to the day before the day of the utterance in
which it is used.
Practice