Week 11: Reference Theory

Language and the Mind

What is referential theory?

The branch of semantics and pragmatics that explains how linguistic expressions—especially noun phrases, proper names, pronouns, and definite descriptions—relate to, or “pick out,” entities in the world. The theory addresses the question of: how do words and expressions refer to the things they talk about?

What is a referring expression?

Any phrase used to identify a specific identity (e.g the cat, that student). (A noun phrase in simpler terms).

What is the referent?

The actual entity picked out by the expression in a given context. For example, in “I saw the queen yesterday,” the referent is whoever counts as “the queen” in that context.

Explain the sense-reference distinction.

Reference is the object an expression picks out. Sense is the mode of presentation of that object (the way it is described/ conceptualised).

Give an example of a sentence with a. sense-reference distinction.

'the morning star' and 'the evening star' both referring to Venus (same referent). However, they differ In sense (different ways of describing the same entity).