WORDS AND THINGS:
EXTENSIONS AND PROTOTYPES
LECTURE 15
DR. AMIRA ALSHEHRI
REVISION
WHAT IS A REFERENCE?
• In semantics, reference is generally understood as
the relationship between language (nouns, pronouns,
phrases) and the world (things or persons).
FOR EXAMPLE:
1. JOHN TOOK THE PAPER
Reference
Relationship between
the language (abstract) the world (physical)
John (as word) John (as a person)
the paper (as a phrase) the paper (as a thing)
REVISION
WHAT IS A REFERENT?
• The object (or the part of the world) referred
to is called the referent of the word or pronoun
or phrase.
REVISION
WHAT IS A REFERRING EXPRESSION?
A referring expression is any expression used in an utterance to refer to
something or someone.
For example:
John is that student standing in the corner
(John is a referring expression because it is used to refer to a student
named John).
REVISION
WHAT IS A SENSE?
• SENSE, on the other hand, is concerned with the relationships inside
the language. SENSE does not refer to things or people like reference.
Give examples for the relationships inside language
a. She is beautiful different words but share
b. She is pretty one sense
1. EXTENSION
What is extension?
It is the set of things which can POTENTIALLY be referred
to by using an expression whose main element is that
predicate.
1. EXTENSION
For example:
• 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.
SENSE, EXTENSION, REFERENCE
Now, we will make a comparison among sense,
extension, and reference. The criteria are:
1. A set involvement
2. Independence of particular occasion or utterance
3. Connection of language to the world
CRITERION 1: SET INVOLVEMENT
1. Sense: It does not involve any set because it does not refer to
physical things.
2. Extension: It involves sets of physical objects. For example, The
extension of dog is the set of all dogs in the universe.
3. Reference: It does not involve a set of things. It only involves a
particular thing. For example, the cat is hungry; here the cat refers
to a particular thing not to all cats of the universe
CRITERION 2: INDEPENDENCE OF PARTICULAR OCCASION OR UTTERANCE
Independence of particular occasion means whether THE TIME of utterance is important
or not:
1. Sense: Yes it is independent. For example, the sense of the word ‘beautiful’ is not
changed by the time or occasion of the utterance.
2. Extension: Yes it is independent. For example, the extension of dog is the set of all dogs
in the universe regardless of the time or occasion of the utterance.
3. Reference: No it is not independent. For example, the cat is hungry; here the cat refers to
a particular cat on a particular time or occasion.
CRITERION 3: CONNECTION OF LANGUAGE TO THE WORLD
This criterion means when words or phrases (language) refers to something outside the
language (e.g. physical objects such as dog, or abstract entities such as songs, etc.) :
1. Sense: No connection because SENSE is concerned with the relationships INSIDE the
language. SENSE does not refer to things or people.
2. Extension & Reference: Yes there is connection. Because they connect a word or a phrase
to parts of the world (or to the outside language). For example, the extension of the
WORD dog is CONNECTED to the set of all dogs in the universe. Similarly, the referring
expression dog refers to the a particular dog in the world.
Do Practice 1 on page 81
4. PROTOTYPE
• A PROTOTYPE of a predicate is an object
which is held to be very TYPICAL of the kind
of object which can be referred to by an
expression containing the predicate.
• Example of a prototype:
• A man of medium height and average build, between 30 and 50 years old,
with brownish hair, with no particularly distinctive characteristics or defects,
could be a prototype of the predicate man in certain areas of the world.
• A dwarf or a giant could not be a prototype of the predicate man. So they are
called non-prototypical example of the predicate man
Do Practice 1 on page 88
PROTOTYPES AND CULTURAL DIFFERENCES
• What is prototypical or non-prototypical depends on
the culture of the speakers or hearers. To
understand the effect of cultural differences, do
Practice 2 Page 88.
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• THANK YOU
