REVIEW
Unit 3
Reference and Sense
Reference
Reference vs. Referent
• A referent is an object or an entity in the real world or
in the world of your imagination, that is talked about.
(đối tượng sở chỉ)
• The reference of a word or a linguistic expression is the
relationship between that word or expression and the
thing, the action, the event, the quality, etc. it refers to.
(quan hệ sở chỉ)
E.g.:
Peter’s house -------------
(in the English REFERENCE
language) (in the real world)
referent
Semiotic triangle
MINDS/
INTENTIONS
(inside ourselves)
referent
LANGUAGE THE WORLD
(outside of
Peter’s house reference
ourselves)
Carry out this simple instruction:
(p.27) Touch your left ear.
your left ear
a part of the world
Types of Reference
Examples:
1. a. The present President of the United States
b. “My mother”
c. Orange
2. a. Ho Chi Minh City and Saigon
b. the Morning Star and the Evening Star
c. Tony Blair is the Prime Minister of the UK in 2000.
3. a. Vietnam
b. Angelina Jolie
c. the moon
Types of Reference
1. Variable Reference: the same expression
may refer to different objects.
Example 1:
a. The present President of the US:
- In 2007: George W. Bush
- In 1996: Bill Clinton.
b. “My mother” (the mother of the speaker) may
refer to many different ladies depending on
different speakers.
c. Orange may refer to the color or the fruit.
Types of Reference
1. Variable Reference can be:
- Possessive adjectives: my, your, the
government’s… (Exception: John’s)
- Demonstrative adjectives and pronouns:
this, that, these, those, mine…
- Personal pronouns: I, you, he, him,…
- Adverb of place/time: here, there, today,
yesterday, at the station…
- Article: the, a, an
Types of Reference
2. Co-Reference: different expressions refer to
the same object.
Example 2:
a. HCM City and Saigon:
both refer to the same city.
b. The Morning Star and the Evening Star:
both refer to the planet Venus.
c. Tony Blair is the Prime Minister of the UK in
2000:
both refer to one person.
Types of Reference
3. Constant Reference: one expression always
refers to the same object (regardless who is the
speaker).
Example 3:
• Proper names, especially geographical
names: Angelina Jolie, Smith, David,
Vietnam, Laos,…
• Unique things: the sun, the moon, the
earth, the east, the west,…
Types of Reference
4. No reference: an expression which is
meaningful but does not refer to anything.
Example:
• Function words: and, but, if, almost, …
• Imaginary characters: Batman, Dragon,
Superman, Snow White, Spiderman, …
• The objects that do not exist now.
- The King of France is bald.
- The Queen of Vietnam is a Cambodian.
Types of Reference
1. Variable reference
2. Co-reference
3. Constant reference
4. No reference
(p.28)
George W. Bush
Bill Clinton
variable reference
George W. Bush
Bill Clinton
The reference of an expression vary according to the circumstances (time,
place, etc.) and the topic of the conversation in which the expression is used.
(p.28)
In fact, there is very little constancy of reference in language.
(p.29)
Sense vs. Referent
Sense is the general meaning or the concept
underlying the word.
(nét nghĩa)
A word’s referent is the object which it stands
for on a specific occasion of use.
Sense vs. Referent
E.g.: The queen has fallen off the table.
Situation 1: at Buckingham Palace in 2009- the queen
Elizabeth II, and the referent of the word table is a
particular piece of English royal furniture.
Situation 2: in Denmark – the queen Queen Margrethe of
Denmark and the referent of the word table is the Danish
one.
Situation 3: in a game of chess …
Situation 4: in a game of playing cards …
The queen
Sense 1: female reigning monarch
Sense 2: second highest ranking piece in a game of chess
Sense 3: third highest card in a suit, behind ace and king
Sense vs. Referent
A word’s referent changes each time the word is
applied to a different object or situation.
By contrast, a word’s sense does not change
every time the word takes on a new referent.
‘table’ has the single sense ‘piece of furniture
with raised flat surface used for putting things
on, eating at, etc.’
(p.29)
(p.29)
Sense: not only of words, but also of longer expressions
(phrases, sentences).
One word can have different senses.
(p.30)
One sentence can have different senses.
Write down 2 sentences bringing out clearly
the 2 different senses of: (p.30)
1. The chicken is ready to eat.
2. He greeted the girl with a smile.
3. He turned over the field.
One sentence can have different senses.
1. The chicken is ready to eat.
• The chicken is ready to be eaten.
• The chicken is ready to eat something.
2. He greeted the girl with a smile.
• Smiling, he greeted the girl.
• He greeted the smiling girl.
3. He turned over the field.
• He changed direction over the field.
(he = a pilot)
• He turned the field over
(he = a ploughman / a farmer)
Content words: principally nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs
like democracy, mother, stir-fry, happy, and totally have meaning in
that they refer to objects, events, and abstract concepts.
Function words: specifically articles, prepositions, conjunctions
and auxiliaries like a/an, under, nevertheless, but, should, etc. also
carry meaning, though in a different way from content words: "to
signal grammatical relations”.
(p.32)
A proposition corresponds to a complete
independent thought.
Sense vs. Reference (p.34)
