Semantic Theories

I. Semantic Theories

Sense and Reference

Sense: The Oxford Concise Dictionary of Linguistics explains sense as:

1. A meaning of a lexical unit distinguishes, e.g. in a dictionary, from other meanings. Thus "chair" has one sense when it is used to refer to a piece of furniture and another when used to refer to someone chairing a meeting.
2. The place of a lexical unit within the semantic meaning system of a language. Eg: That of "chair" is defined by the relations that distinguish it from "furniture", from "armchair", from "table", and so on. 
3. The meaning of an expression as distinct from its reference. Thus, in a famous eg: of the philosopher G. Frege, the "morning star" and the "evening star" have the same referent (the planet Venus) but differ in sense.

Gottlob Frege, the father of modern mathematical logic, and also considered one of the founders of analytic philosophy, developed the distinction between sense and reference in his essay "On Sense and Reference", 1892, translated thus by Max Black (1949). In it, Frege suggested that in order to group the meaning of an expression, one must comprehend not only the object it refers to but also the way the object is presented, that is to say the sense of the referring expression.

The study of sense owes much to the concept of words as signs. According to this view, words are symbolic entities deriving their meaning from the place they occupy in the linguistic system. Eg: How would you describe the meaning of the word "red". One way of answering would be to point to all the red things around. This would tell what "red" referred to, that is, its reference. A more linguistic way would be to place "red" within a "semantic field" of meaning, in this case colour, and then proceed to relate it to other colours in the field: similar to orange, different from black, inclusive of burgandy, scarlet & crimson, and so on. The meaning which derived from the totality of these relationships, or sense relations, would be what linguists calls "sense". Sense is the semantic meaning which "red" has in any context.

Reference (Concept)

The relationship between words and the things, activities, properties, relationships etc. in the outside world, to which they refer.

Signs are symbols that refer to concept and other signs. The concept is a reference and referent is what it refers, in turn, to some objects in the real world. Thus the object in the real world is referent, the concept we have in mind is the reference and the symbol which refers to the object is the word. This relationship can be understood by a triangular diagram given by Ogden and Richards (1923).

Concept (reference) 

↙                 ↘

                   Word (symbol)       ⟶ Object (Referent)   

Sense of Reference

The relation of meaning between word or expression and the entity in the context to which it is intended to point. The same entity may be referred to by different words or expressions.

Eg: Fred, my father, he.

II. Connotation and Denotation

Denotation: The relation between a lexical unit and whatever objects, etc. It is used to refer to. In simple words, the relation between a word and core meaning of a word, as given in a dictionary definition is called denotation.

Connotation: The emotive overtones that a word carries, over and above its denotational meaning. For eg: "Mob" has connotations of "unruly" and "ill-intentioned" by comparison with crowd; and "champagne" may said to connote celebration or high living.

The usual implication is that denotations are primary and connotations are secondary. 

Connotation, from the medieval Latin compound verb con-noto, refers to an implied or accompanying feature, as the prefix "con" suggests.

Denotation etymologically derives from the post classical Latin compound verb de-noto which conveys the idea of singling out an entity by way of distinctive features.

IT was John Stuart Mill who first mentioned the dichotomy between connotation and denotation in his "System of Logic" (1843), two labels that he used in a similar way as sense and reference, or extension and intension.

III.  Extension and Intension

The Oxford Concise Dictionary of Linguistics explains the term "extension" as "in ordinary sense". Thus analogical extension is an extension in the range of words formed in a particular way, seen as by analogy with those already so formed. "Extension of meaning" is used for the development of a new sense of a lexical unit; thus, in particular, a figurative extension which involves a metaphor or other figure of speech. It is also used of the widening of an existing sense, that is, enlargement of the clan of entities that a word denotes. 

Eg: The meaning of "bird", formerly "young bird", was extended, in the early history of English, to mean "bird" in general.

Extension is also philosopher's term for the range of individuals, etc. to which e.g. a term applies.

Eg: The extension of computer is the set of all computers. Hence, in particular, an "extensional definition" of class or set is a specification one by one of its members.        

Intension, on the other hand is the properties that define a word or concept. An intensional definition of a class will correspondingly specify the properties that something must have to be a member of it. An intensional logic is one in which the validity of argument depends on identity or difference in intension.

Prepared by

Dr. Susan Mathew