SEMANTICS (Referring Expressions)
A Referring Expression is any expression used in an utterance to refer to something or someone (or a clearly delimited collection of things or people),
i.e. used with a particular referent in mind.
2nd Group:
Mufarika
Nurmalasari
Putri Aliya Rahma
Sulistyawati
Mawar Emilia Suhendar
Qori Aliarahmi
Universitas Islam Syekh-Yusuf Tangerang
2. UNIT 4
In this unit we develop the notion of reference
(introduced in Unit 3), and consider more closely the
range of expressions that speakers may use to refer to
some object or person in the world.
3. A Referring Expression is any expression used in an utterance to refer to
something or someone (or a clearly delimited collection of things or people),
i.e. used with a particular referent in mind.
Referring expression is concrete (nyata)
Referring Expressions
Refer to
someone
Refer to
something
4. Example of Referring Expressions
‘Fred hit me’
the speaker has a particular person in mind when
he says ‘Fred’, so ‘Fred’ is a referring expression.
‘There’s no Fred at this address’
a speaker would not have a particular person in
mind in uttering the word.
‘Fred’, is not a referring expression.
Fred
No
Fred
6. Indefinite Noun Phrase is uses articles in its expression. Indefinite articles (a & an)
Indefinite Noun Phrase
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Example :
1. ‘A man was in here looking for you last night’
a man is a referring expression. (yes)
2. ‘The first sign of the monsoon is a cloud on the horizon no bigger than
a man’s hand’
a man is not a referring expression? ( No)
The same expression can be a referring expression or not, depending
on the context.
7. Example :
1. ‘Nancy married a Norwegian’
a Norwegian is a referring expressions. ( Yes)
2. ‘Nancy wants to marry a Norwegian’
a Norwegian is ambiguity. (Yes / No)
the sentence is ambiguous. It depends on whether the speaker has in
mind a particular person whom Nancy wants to marry.
the ambiguities in the above examples could in fact be resolved by the
use of the word certain immediately following the indefinite article a, as in,
for example: ‘Nancy wants to marry a certain Norwegian.’
Indefinite noun phrase can be referring expression depending upon what
is the mind of the speaker (can be ambiguous)
8. Definite Noun Phrase
A definite Noun Phrase, is uses proper names (e.g. John), personal
pronoun (e.g. he, it), and longer descriptive expression (e.g. the man
who shot Abraham Lincoln)
Example :
1. John in ‘John is my best friend’
2. He in ‘He’s a very polite man’, said by a husband to his
wife in a conversation about their bank manager
3. It in ‘It’s sinking!’ used in a conversation about a battleship
which has just been attacked
4. The man who shot Abraham Lincoln in ‘The man who shot
Abraham Lincoln was an unemployed actor’
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9. .
Even with definite noun phrases, there are examples in which they
are not (or not clearly) referring expressions.
Example :
1. he in ‘If anyone ever marries Nancy, he’s in for a bad time’
(No, the speaker has no particular individual in mind as Nancy’s
possible future husband)
2. the person who did this in ‘The person who did this must be insane’,
Not such a clear case, but it could be argued that the person who
did this is not a referring expression in this example.
11. OPAQUE CONTEXT
An opaque context is a part of a sentence which could be made into a complete
sentence by the addition of a referring expression, but where the addition of
different referring expressions, even though they refer to the same thing or person,
in a given situation, will yield sentences with DIFFERENT meanings when uttered in
a given situation.
Opaque contexts typically involve a certain kind of verb, like want, believe, think,
and wonder about.
Example :
The incomplete sentence Qori believes……………. is a hero.
The following two utterances would make different claims:
A: ‘Qori believes Spiderman is a hero.’
B: ‘Qori believes Tom Holand is a hero.’
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12. Equative Sentence
EQUATIVE SENTENCE is one which is used to assert the identity of the referents of
two referring expressions, i.e. to assert that two referring expressions have the
same referent.
Example :
- Tony Blair is the Prime Minister [ Yes ]
- Cairo is not the largest city in Africa [ No ] Cairo is the largest city in Africa
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A feature of many equative sentences is that the order of the two
referring expressions can be reversed without loss of acceptability.
Example :
The largest city in Africa is Cairo
Cairo is the largest city in Africa
13. 1. Which of the following could be used as referring expressions? Explain why?
a. A book [yes/no]
b. or [yes/no]
2. Decide whether the italicized noun phrases are referring expressions or not,
and explain why?
a. His father married a dancer [yes/no]
b. John wants to marry a dancer [yes/no]
3. Which of the following are equative sentences? Explain why ?
a. William the Conqueror is the current King of England. [yes/no]
b. Tangerang is not the largest city in Banten. [yes/no]
Exercise
14. SUMMARY
At first sight the notion of reference as a relation between expressions used
in utterances people and objects in the world seems straightforward
enough. But stating simple generalizations about when an expression is
actually a referring expression and when it is not, is, to say the least
difficult. Both indefinite and definite noun phrases can be ambiguous. The
existence of opaque contexts also provides interesting complications to the
contribution of referring expressions to meaning.
15. References
Hurford, J, R., Heasley, B., & Smith, M. B. (2007)
Semantics A course Book.
Larry Palacio “Referring expressions” Youtube,
https://youtu.be/vg3BFVPmXjs
Ashwag Al Hamid “Unit 4 - Referring Expressions”, Slide Share
https://www.slideshare.net/AshwagAlhamid/unit-4-referring-expressions
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