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"Not all linguistic elements 'refer to' objects and entities in the outside world;
some refer to other parts of the text in which they occur: In this section we
summarize our findings.'"(Michael Pearce, The Routledge Dictionary of
English Language Studies. Routledge, 2007)
Another component of words meaning is its reference. In this section,
we briefly examine certain kinds of reference tha words can have.
Proper Names present the simples case. China obviously refers to the
country of China. Arkansas refers to the state of Arkansas. Barack Obama
refers to the individual Barack Obama . White House to the thus named
building in washington, DC . In general proper names refere to the specific
entities in the world- people, place, etc.
Yet, what do nouns such cat as cat or woman refer to? Unlike proper name ,
they do not refer to some specific things all by themselves. Suppose
somebody asks th following question :
1. Does sally have a cat?
They cannot be asking about specific cat. The expression cat in
this section cannot be taken to stand for the particular feline that
Sally has, since who ever uttered the question doesnt even
know wheter there is such a feline.
2. No, Sally has never had a cat
Again, cat cannot be referring to a particular cst since the answer
explicitlystates that there are no cats that sally ever owned.
What is clear from the question is that using the expression cat
intended to restrict the attention of the listener to do a certain set of things
in the world, namely, those things that are cat. If somebody asks. Does Sally
have a cat? They are inquiring about entities in the world that are cats and
wheter sally has one of them.
Thus common nouns like cat do not refer to a specific entitiy in the
world, but rather they focus the attention on all those things in the world that
are cats. i.e the set of all cats. A set just collection of things. A set of cats ,
then, is a collection of precisely those things things that are cats. That is the
reference of the expression cat , and all the individual cats that comprise this
set of cats are its referents.
Similarly , the reference of the expression woman is the sets of all girl
in the world. The diagram depict the reference of the expression woman in a
simple world that contains very few things. Keep in mind that this diagram is
just a visual representation of the reference of the expression woman. That
is, woman doesnt refer to the collection figures in diagram. Instead, woman
refers to the sets of actual individual in the world that are woman.
Just like noun, intransitive verbs also refer to sets of entities . The
reference of an intransitive verb like swim is the set of all swimmers in the
world. If this seems a little counterituitive, suppose somebody asks you, who
swims? You would probably answer the question by trying to list the
swimmer that you can think of e.g Andi, fish and shark. You would be tryingto
identify the set of things in the world that swim. Similarly ,the reference
adjective like purple is the set of alll purple things in the world .
Example:
"In [the transitive verb pattern] (My roommate and I became good
friends), the two noun phrases have the same referent: My roommate
and I and good friends refer to the same people. We could in fact say
referent is (semantics) the specific entity in the world that a word or phrase
identifies or denotes while
reference is (semantics) a relation between objects in which one object
designates, or acts as a means by which to connect to or link to, another
object.
References
Charles Kay Ogden (18891957) and Ivor Armstrong Richards (1893 1979)
was an English linguistic and English literary critic. Both of them were
recognized by their book called The Meaning of Meaning: A Study of the
Influence of Language upon Thought and of the Science of Symbolism.
Ogden worked as philosopher, writer and linguist. He was a founder and
editor of weekly Cambridge Magazine in 1912 and later it ceased in 1922.
Richards was working as a Professor in Magdalene College at Cambridge.
This theory emphasis that the meanings are not residing with words it
resides with the people.
Theory
The Semantic Triangle shows the direct relationship between Words &
Thoughts and Thoughts & Thing. But the dotted lines represent the word
(sign) is not the Thing (a referent) and there is no any direct relation
between words and thing. The referent needs some prior experience and
reference about the word or sign to be comprehensive.
Any sign or word have their own meaning even though we need certain
reference to understand is called The Meaning of Meaning. (1- Dictionary: If
a word is new, a people need reference to understand the word. 2- Mayan
Code: These codes are signs only. No one cannot understand meaning of the
Mayan codes without any reference. So the signs have a direct relationship
with reference and reference has direct relationship with referent)
Example 1:
The Word love makes a different sense to different people. The way in
which they understand this word must be in reference with their
experiences and ideas relating to this word
Example 2:
Conclusion
Ogden and Richard were improved the Saussures dyadic semiotics. The
analysis of major psychoanalyzing theories can be seen in this model. This
theory is more about misunderstanding and its remedies. Charles Kay Ogden
and Ivor Armstrong Richards studied about the misunderstanding that
happens due to the difference in understanding worked forward for the
remedies. This theory is the product of their working towards the remedy
rather than a remedy.
REFERENCE
Kata refer sering digunakan untuk mengacu pada apa yang pembicara lakukan.
Sedangkan istilah denote atau semantic reference digunakan untuk mengacu pada
apa yang dilakukan oleh kata atau frase tersebut. Objek yang dijelaskan oleh
pembicara (orang) disebut referent. Sedangkan objek yang dijelaskan secara
semantic disebut denotation.
Reference itu terbagi atas dua, yaitu speakers reference dan linguistic reference.
Speakers reference mencakup apa yang pembicara tujukan ketika menyampaikan
sesuatu, dan speakers reference bisa saja sama dengan apa yang pembicara
indikasikan. Seperti contoh, sesuatu ditujukkan kepada George Washington dengan
menggunakan The First President. Ini dapat terjadi walaupun sesuatu yang
diindikasikan tidak sama dengan semantic reference. Yang perlu ditekankan bahwa
denotations merupakan segala sesuatu dan kejadian yang ada di dunia ini. Dengan
kata lain word or phrase denotes adalah segala sesuatu dan peristiwa yang dapat
dijelaskan dengan kata-kata.
Perhatikan contoh (4) HALAMAN 425.
Contoh a&b adalah singular expression. Sedangkan contoh C&D adalah General
expression.
Perbedaan antara general expressions dengan singular expression yaitu :
- General expression yang terdiri dari nouns, verbs, adjective, dan frase dapat
menjelaskan berbagai macam sesuatu atau peristiwa. Misalnya kata red dapat
mengindikasikan kepada sesuatu yang berwarna merah.
- Singular expression yang terdiri dari proper name seperti Julius Caesar, frase
seperti the dents on the fender, dan pronoun seperti she, he, dan they. Singular
expression memiliki property yang digunakan pada kejadian tertentu, dan mengacu
pada single thing atau collection of things.
WHAT IS REFERENCE?