Reference and Denotation
This is an important distinction. Denotation is the relation existing between a lexical item and a set of potential referents in some world. Reference is the relation between some expression and actual referents (subject to the technical restriction given above). The word rabbit denotes the entire class of objects that are classified with this term, whilst the RE my rabbit will generally refer, on a particular occasion of usage, to the one individual in my possession. Generally speaking, lexical items have denotation, whilst phrases have the job of doing reference in real situations. This distinction is not systematically made by some linguists.
Some technical linguistic characteristics of referring expressions
REs carry a presupposition of the existence of the referent(s), in some universe of discourse, including fictional universes (in which Oliver Twist, Noddy, Daleks, Mansfield Park, Atlantis, purgatory, the man with the golden gun, phlogiston, and the invisible pink unicorn "exist").
There are many other technical issues surrounding the nature of reference. Some of these are discussed from the perspective of linguistics in Lyons (1977, vol. I: chapter 7); Cann (1993: chapters 9 and 10); Saeed (1997: chapters 2, 7, 11). There is a vast literature on the topic in philosophy.
Read more about this topic: Referring Expression
Famous quotes containing the words reference and and/or reference:
“Meaning is what essence becomes when it is divorced from the object of reference and wedded to the word.”
—Willard Van Orman Quine (b. 1908)
“If we define a sign as an exact reference, it must include symbol because a symbol is an exact reference too. The difference seems to be that a sign is an exact reference to something definite and a symbol an exact reference to something indefinite.”
—William York Tindall (1903–1981)