Walaa jehad abu saqer 220102739
Reference and Referring Expressions “Words themselves do not refer to anything, people refer”
Reference is an act in which a speaker, or writer, uses linguistic forms to enable a listener, or reader, to identify something. These linguistic forms are called referring expressions. They can be: proper nouns: ‘Brasília’ ‘Bill Clinton ’
They can be: (b) noun phrases (definite): ‘The city’ ‘The ex-president’
(c) noun phrases (indefinite): ‘A place ’ ‘A man’
They can be: (d) pronouns: ‘It’ ‘He, him’
Referring expression is any expression used in an utterance to refer to something or someone, namely used with particular referent in the mind of the speaker.
For example, when I say, “Alice did a presentation last lecture” “There is no Alice in this class”
Intension and Extension
Intension Is the set of properties shared by all members of the extension. It indicates the internal content of a term or concept that constitutes its formal definition Intension is unchangeable.
the intension of “ship” as a substantive is “vehicle for conveyance on water”
the intension of “dog” must be an animal that can bark the intension of “dog” must be an animal that can bark . An image of the word dog would have to be general enough to include the different sizes, shapes, and colors, yet still exclude foxes and wolves.
Extension It is the set of entities which it denotes. indicates its range of applicability by naming the particular objects that it denotes. Extension is changeable
ships passenger ships battleships cargo ships sailing ships
Ships
dogs collies dachshunds mongrels Dalmatians
dogs
prototype It is an object or referent that is considered typical of the whole set. Culturally and socially dependent. Prototypes can vary across populations.
If you encounter to the lexeme bird in isolation and immediately think of robin rather than others, that bird ,for you the prototype of all birds. But not everybody is likely to have the same prototype for a particular set.
Some different kinds of referents: Unique and non-unique referents Concert and abstract referents Countable and non-countable referents
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