Semantics: Sense reference and universal discourse

1. Department of English Language and Literature
Major: English Language and Literature
Extra Semantics Session Reference and universal discourse
Dr. Badriya Al Mamari
Academic year 2021/2022

2. The SENSE of an expression is its place in a system of semantic relationships
with other expressions in the language.
Example:
1.I (almost/nearly) fell over.
2.It is likely / probably that Michel will arrive tomorrow.
The light doesn’t seem to be fixed (vertical/upright)
4.I’ll see you next (Monday/Friday).

3. A Referring expression is any expression used in an utterance to refer to something or
someone (or collection of things or people), i.e. used with a particular referent in mind.
Example:
Fareed hits me.
The distinction between referring expressions and predicates is absolute.
• Every expression that has meaning has sense, but not every expression has reference.
• For example: the words “almost, probable, and, if, and above” have some sense, but
none of these words refers to a thing in the world.
• The notions of sense and reference are central to the study of meaning.
• Reference can be defined as the meaning of a word or expression in a particular context,
while sense is defined as the meaning of the word or expression which denotes that
concrete referent.
• The idea of reference is relatively solid and easy to understand.
• The idea of sense is more elusive. ( It’s like electricity; we know its uses, but do not know
what exactly it is!

4. Universe of discourse
• Language is used to talk about the real world and can be used to talk about an infinite
variety of abstractions, and even of entities in imaginary, unreal worlds.
• We define the Universe of discourse for any utterance as the particular world, real or
imaginary (or part real, part imaginary), that the speaker assumes he is talking about
at the time.
Example:
• When an astronomy lecturer, in a serious lecture, states that the Earth revolves around
the Sun, the universe of discourse is, we all assume, the real world (or universe).
• When I tell my children a bedtime story and say ‘The dragon set fire to the woods
with his hot breath’, the universe of discourse is not the real world but a fictitious
world.

5. Extension
The Extension of a one-place predicate is the set of all individuals to
which that predicate can truthfully be applied. It is the set of things which
can potentially be referred to by using an expression whose main element
is that predicate.
Examples:
• The extension of window is the set of all windows in the universe.
• The extension of dog is the set of all dogs in the universe.
• The extension of house is the set of all houses.
• The extension of red is the set of all red things.

6. • Extension contrasts with sense, since a sense is not a set of anything.
• Extension contrasts with referent, since a referent is normally an individual
thing, not a set of things.
• Beside these contrasts, the notion of extension has similarities to that of sense,
on the one hand, and to that of reference, on the other.
• Extension is like sense, and unlike reference, in that it is independent of any
particular occasion of utterance. Speakers refer to referents on particular
occasions, but words which have sense and extension have them ‘timelessly’.
• On the other hand, extension is like reference and unlike sense, in that it
connects a linguistic unit, such as a word or expression, to something non-
linguistic (i.e. outside language) be it a set of physical objects or an individual
physical object, or a set of abstract entities (e.g. songs, distances) or an
individual abstract object (e.g. a particular song, a specific distance).

7. The table indicates the differences and similarities between these three
concepts.