Bài giảng môn Ngữ nghĩa học (Semantics) - Unit 3: Reference and sense reference - Trương Văn Ánh

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1. Semantics Sai Gon University truongvananh@cvseas.edu.vn
2. UNIT 3: REFERENCE AND SENSE REFERENCE By means of REFERENCE, a speaker indicates which things in the world (including persons) are being talked about. Ex: Donald Trump (person) The Statue of Liberty (thing) Word Sense Reference The Triangle of signification
3. SENSE To turn from reference to sense, the SENSE of an expression is its place in a system of semantic relationships with other expressions in the language. The first of these semantic relationships that we will mention is sameness of meaning, an intuitive concept which we will illustrate by example. We will deal first with the senses of words in context. Ex: Every word has its sense, but it may not have reference.
4. Every expression that has meaning has sense, but not every expression has reference. The notions of sense and reference are central to the study of meaning. Every further unit in this book will make use of one or another of these notions. Summary: Sense: expression of something or somebody. Reference: Whom/What we talk about. we can perceive.
5. The idea of reference is relatively solid and easy to understand. The idea of sense is more elusive: it is a bit like electricity, which we all know how to use (and even talk about) in various ways, without ever being sure what exactly it is. Even semanticists aren’t sure exactly what sense is, but you’ll find that your grasp of it and your appreciation of the usefulness of the concept will grow as you study more. (The importance of the sense/reference distinction was most influentially demonstrated by the German philosopher Gottlob Frege.)
6. + A referent is an object or an entity in the real world or in the world of your imagination. Ex: a room, a rat, a dragon + 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. Ex: Mary’s book Mary’s book the book that belongs to Mary
7. + The sense of a word or a linguistic expression shows the internal relationship between that word or expression and others in the vocabulary of a language. Ex: doctor and patient
8. Man A And Pen House Because Dragon From All of them have meaning (sense).  Sense is the meaning of a word in a dictionary.
9. Man A And Pen House Because Dragon From  Man, Pen, House, Dragon: we can perceive (see). They are called referents (referring expressions)
10. Man A And Pen House Because Dragon From A, And, Because, From: have sense but they are not referents. A thing (person) we can perceive is called a referent.
11. + Variable reference: The same word/phrase refers to different referents. Ex: Teacher: Many people are teachers. + Constant reference: One word/phrase refers to one referent. Ex: M.U., Real Madrid, Pele, Vietnam + Co-reference: Two or more words/phrases refer to the same referent. Ex: Ho Chi Minh, Nguyen Ai Quoc, Nguyen Tat Thanh: one person The morning star, the evening star: Venus
12. Summary Speaker meaning Sentence meaning Utterance Sentence Proposition Sense Reference Referent: Variable, constant, co-referent
13. Sense vs. Proposition (1) Johnny (2) - Who ate the cake? - Johnny. Johnny in (1) is not a proposition because it is only a word. Johnny in (2) is a proposition because it is an elliptical sentence – Johnny ate the cake.
14. GOOD LUCK!