Unit 3: Reference
and Sense
Ms. Nehal Al-Saleh
Reference and Sense
There are two ways of talking about the
meanings of words and other
expressions:
Sense – relationships inside the
language.
Reference – relationships between
language and the world.
Ms. Nehal Al-Saleh
Reference
By means of reference, a speaker indicates which
things in the world (including persons) are being
talked about.
Reference is a relationship between parts of a language and
things outside the language (in the world).
Reference is external in the sense that each word has a
thing or person to refer to in the external world.
The thing or person which a word identifies in the
world is called a referent.
Ms. Nehal Al-Saleh
Constant vs. Variable
Reference
Reference can either be constant or variable. That
means an expression can either have one fixed referent,
or it can refer to more than one object.
Examples of constant reference:
The sun is shining.
Riyadh is hot this time of the year.
Examples of variable reference –
My son goes to school.
The book on the table is very interesting.
Reference of an expression varies according to the
circumstances (time, place, etc.) , and the topic of the
conversation in which the expression is used.
Ms. Nehal Al-Saleh
Reference
Two different expressions can have the same referent.
Examples include:
The Morning Star and the Evening Star, both of which
normally refer to the planet Venus.
The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and the king of
Saudi Arabia both refer to the same person.
Ms. Nehal Al-Saleh
Sense
The sense of an expression is its place in a system of semantic
relationships with other expressions in the language.
Sense is internal because it explains the relation of a word or
expression to other words or expressions within the same language. It is
about relationships inside the same language. One of these
relationships is sameness of meaning.
I almost fell
I nearly fell
He took off his jacket.
He took his jacket off.
In some cases, the same word, or even sentence, can have more than
one sense.
Bank; bat
The chicken is ready to eat
I saw the man with the telescope
Ms. Nehal Al-Saleh
Sense and Reference
On the relationship between sense and reference:
Both sense and reference help in giving meaning. The
referent of an expression is often a thing or a person in
the world; whereas the sense of an expression is not a
thing at all. Intuitively, it is sometimes useful to think of
sense as that part of the meaning of an expression that is
left over when reference is factored out. When a person
understands fully what is said to him, it is reasonable to
say that he grasps the sense of the expressions he hears.
The sense of an expression is an abstraction, while its
reference is concrete.
Every expression that has meaning has sense, but not
every expression has reference.
Ms. Nehal Al-Saleh
Sense and Reference
In everyday conversation the words meaning, means,
mean, meant, etc. are sometimes used to indicate
reference and sometimes to indicate sense. For
example:
When Helen mentioned ‘the fruit cake’, she meant that
rock-hard object in the middle of the table.
When Albert talks about ‘his former friend’ he means me.
Daddy, what does unique mean?
Purchase has the same meaning as buy.
Look up the meaning of apoplexy in your dictionary.
If you look out of the window now, you’ll see who I mean.
Ms. Nehal Al-Saleh
Sense and Propositions
The same sense can be said to belong to expressions in
different languages, as well as to different dialects of the
same language. The same applies to propositions.
Not every language expression that has sense necessarily
expresses a proposition; however, every proposition has
sense.
This is because a proposition is a complete independent
thought. Only sentences express propositions; single words
and phrases do not. On the other hand, words, phrases, and
sentences all have sense. For Example:
Mary read a book. (This sentence has sense and expresses a
proposition because it is a complete thought).
A book. (This expression has sense, but does not express a
proposition because it is not a complete thought).
Ms. Nehal Al-Saleh
Reference and Utterance
Both referring and uttering are acts performed by
particular speakers on particular occasions.
An act of referring is the picking out of a particular
referent by a speaker in the course of a particular
utterance. (refer to page 33 for examples)
Ms. Nehal Al-Saleh