Studies in Semantics

Sense and Reference

The definition of sense:Sense is abstract and de-contextualized, and it refers to the inherent meaning of the linguistic form.

Sense is concerned only with intra-linguistic relations.

It is the collection of all the semantic features of the linguistic form.

Examples:

Dog: domesticated canine mammal, occurring in many breeds showing great size, color, and form variety.

Desk: piece of furniture with a flat top and legs, used to read and write.

I: pronoun, indicating the speaker.

The definition of reference:

Reference is what a linguistic form points to in the real world.

It deals with the relationship between the linguistic element and the metalinguistic world of experience.

Examples:

• “I am a PhD student.” “I” refers to Fadi Sukkari.

• “The door in this classroom is white.” “door” refers to the flat surface that separates our room from the corridor.

Sense and Reference

are both parts of meaning

yet,

what relation

is there

between them?

Sense vs. Reference:

1- A linguistic form with a unique sense may have different referents in different situations.

2- The same referent might be pointed to by numerous linguistic forms having different senses.

3- All linguistic forms have sense, but not necessarily reference.

“A proper name (word or sign) expresses its sense, and designates its reference.” Frege, 1892.

Every expression has both a sense and a reference; actually, it denotes its reference, and expresses its sense.

A- Sense many references

“Our president is giving a speech.”

→

Michel Sleiman

François Hollande

“Is there still any hot water?”

→

Hot potable water.

Hot water for a shower.

B- Reference many senses

1 →

2 →

3 →

4 →

Bill’s wife.

The winner of the Ohio elections.

The Minister of Foreign affairs.

Hillary Clinton!

C- Sense no reference

“A white unicorn is in my garden.”

→

But Unicorns Don’t Exist!

D- Reference no sense ***

? ? ? ? ? ? ?

If you ignore what LITCHIES are,

then you have misseda really delicious

CHINESEFRUIT!

The semiotic triangle

“Ich bin ein Berliner”

I am a berliner

I am a Jelly doughnut

«Berliner» is polysemic and can denote more than one referent.

a- The Siamese breed is a very healthy type of cat. (Declarative)

b- Semantics is so interesting! (Affective)

“The meaning of … a sentence is determined … by the meanings of its constituents. Semantics is primarily denotational … meanings are denotations of linguistic entities: the denotations of words are objects, while those of sentences are truth values.” Frege.

Gottlob Frege 1848-1925

Identity Puzzle

(3 x 4) (6 + 6)=

(3 x 4) = (6 + 6)

12

The Planet Venus

1- The Morning Star

2- The Evening Star

“On Sense and Reference”; 1892

3- The Morning Star is the Morning Star.

4- The Morning Star is the Evening Star.

5- Lin believes that the Morning Star is Venus.

6- Lin believes that the Evening Star is Venus.