Reference, Real Referants and Discourse Referents

Abstract

The direct reference theory encounters problems in face of some semantic issues, including reference to non-existents and the substitutivity of co-referent proper names in propositional attitude sentences. That is because the only thing which constitutes the meaning of an expression in this theory is the referent associated with that expression. This paper, relying on a concept referred to as "discourse referent", attempts to answer two basic questions in this regard: a) Why does the substitution of two co-referent expressions in a propositional attitude sentence change the truth value of that sentence? b) How is it possible to refer to identities in a text while there are no real referents in the outside world to associate with them? In response to the above questions, it is said that what constitutes the reference of an expression is a discourse referent which is, in turn, associated with one or more real and formed referents or with one abstract and non-formed referent. In fact, reference is a dynamic and multi-level phenomenon that simultaneously involves language and world.

Keywords

• direct reference
• discourse referent
• substitutivity
• propositional attitude sentences
• non-existent