Scribd
Upload
211 views

Chapter 2

1. This document discusses reference, sense, and proper names in linguistics. Reference relates language to real world entities, sense relates words and expressions within a language, and proper names uniquely identify people, places, or things. 2. Reference can be variable, constant, or co-reference. Sense shows internal relationships between words. Proper names usually have no articles or adjectives but exceptions exist like country names with "United" or names used with "a" when the identity is unknown. 3. The key difference is that reference relates to entities in the real world while sense relates only within the structure and meaning of a language. This overview explains the concepts of referent, reference, sense and

Uploaded by

CA Pham Khai
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
211 views

Chapter 2

1. This document discusses reference, sense, and proper names in linguistics. Reference relates language to real world entities, sense relates words and expressions within a language, and proper names uniquely identify people, places, or things. 2. Reference can be variable, constant, or co-reference. Sense shows internal relationships between words. Proper names usually have no articles or adjectives but exceptions exist like country names with "United" or names used with "a" when the identity is unknown. 3. The key difference is that reference relates to entities in the real world while sense relates only within the structure and meaning of a language. This overview explains the concepts of referent, reference, sense and

Uploaded by

CA Pham Khai
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 31

Chapter 2:

Reference &
Sense
Overview
1.Referent
2.Reference
3.Referring
Expression
4.Sense
5.Proper Names
1. Referent
• A referent is an object or an entity
in the real world or in the world of
your imagination, anything you can
see, the idealistic working conditions
you have ever dreamed of that is
talked about.
• Several words, especially the so-
called function words, have no
obvious referents: the, could, in,
since, and, be, if, or, etc.
2. Reference
• The reference of a word or a
linguistic expression is the
relationship between that word or
expression and the thing, the action,
the event, etc. it refers to.
Peter’s house is the relationship
between this English noun phrase
and the house that belongs to
Peter.
That woman is the one I love.
Both ‘that woman’ and ‘the one I
2.1 Variable reference
(sở chỉ không cố định)
A. When the same linguistic expression
refers to different referents, it has
variable reference.
e.g. The referent of the phrase the
present prime minister used in
Britain in 1944 is Mr. Churchill and in
1982 is Mrs. Thatcher.
e.g. Prime Minister of Vietnam in 2014?
P.M in 2016? PM in 2018?
Secretary of CYU of VL English
2.2 Constant reference
(sở chỉ cố định)

B. When one linguistic expression


refers to one and the same referent,
it has constant reference:
- the sun, the moon, Halley’s comet,
the People’s Republic of China,
Vietnam, UNESCO, NATO, WHO,
facebook, etc.
2.3 Co-reference (đồng sở chỉ)
C. When two or more linguistic
expressions share the same referent,
they have co-reference.
Ex 1. The morning star and the evening
star both refer to the planet called
Venus.
Ex 2. We can use the names President
John F.Kenedy, or Mr. John F. Kenedy, or
John F. Kenedy, or John, or Jack to refer
to one same person in the real world –
John F. Kenedy.
Ex 3. Elizabeth II?
Ex 4. The Moon in Vietnamese?
Summary

1. Same expression  different


referents: VARIABLE REFERENCE

2. One expression  one referent:


CONSTANT REFERENCE

3. Two or more expressions  same


referent: CO-REFERENCE
Practice
1. What would be the referent of the
phrase the President used in
Vietnam: Hồ Chí Minh
a. in 1945? Tôn Đức Thắng
b. in 1969? Trương Tấn Sang
c. in 2015?
Trần Đại Quang
d. in 2017?
Nguyễn Phú Trọng
d. in 2019?
Therefore we can say that the
variable reference.
phrase the President
Practice

3. What would be the referent of the


phrase the Prime Minister used in a
conversation about British politics:
a. in 2008?Gordon Brown
b. in 2015?David Cameron
c. in 2017?Theresa May
3. Referring expression (Unit 4
– J.H)
(phát ngôn định danh)
• A referring expression is any
expression used in an
utterance to refer to
something or someone, i.e.
used with a particular referent
in mind.
3. Referring expression
Ex1 : “Fred hit me.”
- The speaker has a particular
person in mind.
- The name “Fred” is a referring
expression.
Ex 2: “There’s no Fred at this
address.”
- The speaker would not have a
particular person in mind.
- “Fred” is not a referring expression
Could the following possibly be used as
referring expressions?
1. probable
2. send
3. John
4. my uncle
5. and
6. the girl sitting on the wall by the bus stop
7. a man
8. under
9. almost
10. if
11. my parents
3. Referring expression
(phát ngôn định danh)
1. A man was here looking for you last
night. yes
a man → a particular man? yes
a man → a referring expression?
2. The first sign of the monsoon is a cloud
on the horizon no bigger than anoman’s
hand. no
a man → a particular man?
a man → a referring expression?
3. Forty buses have been withdrawn from yes
service by the Liverpool Corporation.
forty buses → a referring expression?
3. Referring expressions
4. The engine has a power of forty buses.
no
forty buses → a referring expression?
5. My daughter wants to be a doctor.
my daughter → a reference? yes
my daughter → a referent? yes
a doctor → a reference? no
a doctor → a referent? no
6. A good student is a person who studies
well.
no
reference? → no
referent? →
3. Referring expressions
7. Marion is looking for a rubber.
(particular rubber/ any rubber)
a rubber → a referent?
a rubber → a reference?
8. Someone (and I know who) won’t
like this proposal.
9. Someone (and I don’t know who)
has stolen my bicycle.
What are they referring to?
1. The chicken pecked the ground.
2. The chicken with bean sauce was
delicious.
(1) the type of bird
(2) the type of meal
3. The newspaper weighs 5 pounds.
4. The newspaper fired John.
(3) the copy of publication
(4) the company/ publisher
4. Sense
• 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.
Ex1. The English words bachelors and
unmarried have the sense relationship of
bachelors = unmarried men
Ex2. The English words teacher and student
have the sense relationship of the former
is the one who gives a lesson and the
latter is the one who has the lesson given
4. Sense

Ex3. A dog is human has no sense.


Ex4. The King of Vietnam is bald
has some sense.
- The sense of this sentence is
constructed by its individual
lexical components and its
syntactic structure.
- This sentence has no reference.
Why?
Does the word bank have the same
meaning in the following sentence pairs?
(1)I have an account at the Bank
of Scotland.
We steered the raft to the other
bank of the river.NO
(2) The DC-10 banked sharply to
avoid a crash.
I banked the furnace up with
coke last NO
night.
The difference

Reference = the relationship betwe


language and the outer world

Sense = relationship within languag


Identifying referent, reference &
sense via their main features
Referent Reference Sense

between the
in the
language & in a
external the external language
world world
either
real or abstract abstract
imaginary
What is identified by the word mean and
meaning in the following examples, i.e.
Reference or Sense?
___
R 1. When Albert talks about his former
friend, he means me.
___
S 2. Daddy, what does logic mean?
___
S 3. Purchase has the same meaning as buy.
___
S 4. Look up the meaning of democracy in
your dictionary.
___
R 5. If you look out of the window now, you’ll
see who I mean.
___
R 6. When Helen mentioned “the fruit cake”,
she meant that rock-hard object in the
middle of the table.
Justify that the following sentences
contain phrases that have SENSE but
No REFERENCE.
a. The present King of France is bald.
Its sense is constructed by its individual
lexical components and its syntactic
structure. However, this sentence has no
reference: it does not refer to any real
person because the King of France does
not exist nowadays.
b. By the year 3000, our descendants
will have left earth.
?????
Practice
1. Write down two sentences bringing
out clearly the two meanings of The
chicken is ready to eat.
a. The chicken is ready to be eaten.
b. The chicken is ready to eat
something.
2. Write down 2 sentences bringing out
clearly the two different senses of He
greeted the girl with a smile.
c. Smiling, he greeted the girl.
d. He greeted the smiling girl.
Practice

3. Do likewise for He turned over the


field.
a. He changed direction over the field.
(He is an airplane pilot.)
b. He turned the field over.
(He is a ploughman.)
Further reading

Reference & Sense


(Semantics, a coursebook -
Unit 3)
5. Proper names
• Proper names are used to refer to
unique people, animals or places.
There are usually NO articles or
adjectives before proper names.
• Proper names in English are
syntactically restricted in that
they cannot be preceded by
articles or adjectives, because
they are unique.
Ex. John, Vietnam, England, Peter,
Ann
5. Proper names: Cases of exceptions
a. - That is the Paris that I can remember
after all those years.
- He is the Albert Einstein in our class.
- President George Bush
b. Names of some countries contain the word
UNITED, UNION, REPUBLIC or are in the
plural form:
- The United Kingdom, The United States,
The Soviet Union, The Netherlands, The
Philippines
c. A Mr. Smith is waiting for you downstairs.
“A Mr. Smith” is a person by the name
Smith who is waiting for you downstairs
and you don’t know that person and the
listener doesn’t know that person either.
The End

You might also like