Cut Raudhatul Miski, M.Pd.

[REFERENCE AND SENSE

Module of A brief Semantics
Reference and Sense

In this part, you will learn these two terms. It is important to get basic understanding on these terms
since it will always be part of discussions in meaning. You will be guided to get the understanding on this
topic through the activities below. So, be sure that you read all the notions and followed all the activities
orderly.

Let’s begin!

In talking about reference, you will have in your mind that it is the relationship between language and
the world. But, when you talk about sense, you will be dealing with relationship inside the language.

Starting from reference, you have learned that it is the concept in your mind which has relationship with
the thing in real word.

‘Mom Cut Raudhatul Miski teaches Semantics’.

Identifies person identifies thing

In the example above, the speaker indicates which things are she is talking about; The Person (mom cut
raudhatul miski) and the thing (semantics) are the referents.

When you write the expression on your notebook, the inscription is also called as part of the language
(symbol/sign).

Yet, physically, the real person (mom cut raudhatul miski) is categorized as part of the world. In the
other words, you can also say that reference is the relationship between the parts of the language and
the things outside the language (in the world) (Hurford, et.al, 2007).

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Now, answer the followings:

1. What would be the referent of the phrase the President of the Republic of Indonesian used:
a. In 2015? Joko Widodo
b. In 1990? Soeharto

2. Therefore, can we say that the phrase (part of language) the President of the Republic of
Indonesian has many referents? Yes
________yes we can say it ______________________
3. When the lecturer asked you and all of the students in the virtual G-Meet during the last lesson,
to touch your left ear, how many referents can it be? Is it one referent or more than one
referent? more than one referent

1. You can say that, an expression in a language can have many referents.
We call this as variable reference.

2. Then, two different expressions can have the same referent. We call this
constant referent. Here is the example:

1. Planet Venus, commonly recognized as the Morning Star and the Evening Star.
2. Aceh province in Indonesia, commonly recognized as Nanggro Aceh Darussalam and Kota
Serambi Mekkah.

a. Does Halley’s Comet is said to be constant referent? Answer for a: no

variable referent

b. Does Angola normally have constant referent? Answer for b: yes ist
constan referent

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Before turning to sense, let us revisit the referent. It is the real person or real thing in the real world,
while, sense is an abstraction of something that speaker can afford in his mind intuitively.

3. If you can fully understand what someone is saying to you, it means that you have sense of the
expression you hear

An easier way to say whether or not you understand about an expression is by saying its sameness. If
the each of expressions have the same concept each other, the expressions are saying to have the same
sense.

Take a look at the examples below. Can you say each sentence in (a) has the same sense (SS) as in
sentence in (b) or has different sense? (D)

1. a. I almost fell over

Answer :
b. I nearly fell over
1. ……ss…..

2. a. Rupert took off his jacket

2. ……ss……

b. Rupert took his jacket off

3. ……D……

3. a. I will see you on Monday 4. ……D……..

b. I will see you on Wednesday

4. a. I will paint my room aquamarine

b. I will paint my room vermillion

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 4. In some cases, the same word can have more than one sense

For example:

Does the word bank have the same meaning in the following sentence pairs?

a. I have an account at the Bank of Scotland NOT SAME

We steered the raft to the other bank of the river

b. The DC-10 banked sharply to avoid a crash

I banked the furnace up with coke last night YES SAME

Write your comment about notion 4 in the box below!

Form servera: cases it can be understood yhe same word can have many sentences

Not only a word which can contribute more than one sense, sentence can also have
different meaning (sense)

Can you find the different sense (meaning) in the sentences below?

1. The chicken is ready to eat.

1. …the chicken ready to eat……………..

2. …the chicken ready to eat by someone……………..

2. He greeted the girl with a smile.

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 1. …he greeted the girl with smile …….

2. His smile greets the girl …………

5. Every expression that has meaning has sense, but not every expression has
reference.

Do the followings refer to a thing in the real world? Answer :

1. Almost 1. …no……..
2. …no……..
2. Probable
3. …yes……..
3. If

no
Do the 3 words above (almost, probable, if) have some sense?

When you look up the meaning of words in a dictionary (English- English Dictionary), what do you find
there, its referent, or an expression with the same sense? Expression

Is dictionary full of words or full of things? Full of words

Circular nature
How does dictionary sign a word that has multiple meaning?

6. A different dialect of one language can have the same sense

Do pavement in British English and sidewalk in American English have the same sense? yes

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Can you find more examples for notion 6?
Answer: lift in british English and elevator in America English have same sense

7. A same expression of two different dialects (culture) can have different

sense.

Do stay in Singaporean English and stay in American English have the same sense?

Can you find more examples for notion 7?

Answer: move in Singapore and and American have same sense

Elaboration

The notion of sense and reference are central to the study of meaning. He idea of reference is solid
and easy to understand. While, the idea of sense is more elusive; like electricity, which even
without exactly know what it is, we can use it in various ways.

See German Philosopher, Gottlob Frege for more information about sense and reference.

In everyday conversation, the words meaning, means, mean, meant, etc. are sometimes used to
indicate reference and sometimes to indicate sense.

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What is intended by the word mean, meaning, etc. in the following examples, reference (R) or sense
(S)?
Answer:
1. When Helen mentioned ‘the fruit cake’. She meant that rock-
hard object in the middle of the table 1. ____ss_____

2. When Albert talks about ‘his former friend’ he means me 2. ___ss______

3. Daddy. What does unique mean? 3. __ss_______

4. Purchase has the same meaning as buy 4. ____ss_____

5. Look up the meaning of apoplexy in your dictionary 5. ____ss_____

6. If you look out of the window now, you’ll see who I mean. 6. ____ss_____

This material is taken from:

1. Semantics; A Coursebook by James R. Hurford, Brendan Heasley, Michael B. Smith. Second

Edition. 2007. Cambridge University Press. New York.

2. Introducing Semantics by Nick Riemer. 2010. Cambridge University Press. New York.

Pekanbaru. Oktober 2021.cr.