Meaning, Thought, & Reality

MEANING, THOUGHT, & REALITY

Referring & DenotingReferenceMental RepresentationWords, concept, & thinking

04/20/23

aya's prop/semantics/MTR 1

Referring & Denoting (1)

04/20/23aya's prop/semantics/MTR

2

Action of picking out or identifying with words is often called referring or denotinge.g. We’ve just flown back from Paris

referent/denotatum

According to John Lyon, denote is used for the relationship between a linguistic expression and the world, while refer is used for action of a speaker in picking out entities in the world.

Referring & Denoting (2)


3

Referring is what the speakers do, while denoting is a property of the words.e.g. A sparrow flew into the room The speaker uses A sparrow & the room refer to things in the world, Sparrow and room denote certain classes of item

Denotation is a stable relationship in a language which is not dependent on any one use of a word.

Reference is a moment by moment relationship: what somebody refers to by using a word depends on context

Referential & representational Approach


4

Semantic theories which are used to talk about the world are Referential (or denotational) and representational approach

Theories of meaning is called Referential (or denotational) to give the meaning of the words and sentences by showing how they relate to the situation

Theories of meaning is called Representational when their emphasis is on the way that our reports about reality is influenced by the conceptual structures conventionalized in our language.e.g. You have a cold (English)

A cold has you (Somali)A cold is on you (Irish)

In referential theories, meaning derives from languages being attached to, or grounded to, in reality. In representational approach, meaning derives from language being a reflection of our conceptual structures

Reference (Referring & non-referring expression)


5

There are linguistic expression which can never be used to refer. e.g. so, very, maybe, etc.

Referring & non-referring expression distinguishes between instances when speaker uses them to refer and instances when they do not.e.g. They perform a chlocystectomy this morning

A chlocystectomy is a serious procedure

Reference (Constant & variable reference)


6

Constant referent have the same referent across a range of utterances.

Variable referent is dependent on context/deixis

In the sentence, I went to Eiffel Tower, Eiffel Tower is said to have constant referent while I has variable referent

Reference (Referent & Extension)


7

The term Referent of an expression is used for the thing picked out by uttering the expression in a particular contexte.g. I’ve stepped on a toad

The term extension of an expression is the set of things which could possibly be the referent of that expression.e.g. all toads

The relationship between an expression and its extension is called denotation (Lyon)

Noun & Noun Phrases (1)


8 Nouns and noun phrases (NPs), definite & indefinite can

be used to refere.g. I spoke to a man about the noise

I spoke to the man about the noise Definite NP can form a definite description where the

referent is whoever or whatever fits the descriptione.g. She has a crush on the captain of the hockey team

NPs can also be used to refer to a group of individuals, either distributively (focus on individual members of the group) or collectively (focus on the aggregate)e.g. People in the lift avoid each other’s eyes People in the lift proved too heavy for the lift motor

Noun & Noun Phrases (2)


9

Nominals can denote substances, actions, and abstract idease.g. Who can afford coffee?

Sleeping is his hobby Nominals with quantifiers allow a speaker,

among other things, the flexibility to predicate something of a whole class entities or of some subpartse.g. Some frenchmen voted for him twice A few frenchmen voted for him

Problems with Reference


10

Some words do not have referent Many nominal expressions do not have a referent

that exists or has ever existede.g. In the painting, a unicorn is ignoring a maiden

There is not always a one to one correspondence between a linguistic expression and an item to be identifiede.g. In 1981 Anwar El Sadat was assasinated

In 1981 President of Egypt was assasinated

Meaning, Thought, & Reality

Documents

Transcript of Meaning, Thought, & Reality