In general, a reference is a relation between objects in which one object designates by linking to another object. Such relations as these may occur in a variety of domains, including logic, computer science, art and scholarship. Although the objects which the term reference applies may be of a varying character ranging from concrete examples such as reference work which includes pointers or symbols. The nature of reference as a role in language and thought has been around since the 19th Century. During this time, applying itself as an important topic of discussion. An object which is referred to as a reference (where the reference leads) is called a referent.

The term reference is used with different specialized meanings in a variety of fields, as follows:

Contents 1 Semantics 1.1 Meaning 1.2 Absent referent 1.3 Linguistic sign 2 Art 3 Academic writing 4 Computer science 5 Geometry 6 Libraries 7 Scholarship 8 Work references 9 Canadian law 10 See also 11 External links 12 References

Semantics

In semantics, reference is generally construed as the relation between nouns or pronouns and objects that are named by them. Semantics is the study of meaning in communication The word derives from Greek σημαντικός ( semantikos) "significant" from In Linguistics and Grammar, a pronoun is a Pro-form that substitutes for a (including a noun phrase consisting of a single Noun) with or Hence the word John refers to John. The word it refers to some previously specified object. The object referred to is called the referent of the word. ^[1] Sometimes the word-object relation is called denotation; the word denotes the object. This word has distinct meanings in other fields see Denotation (semiotics and Connotation and denotation. The converse relation, the relation from object to word, is called exemplification; the object exemplifies what the word denotes. Exemplification is a mode of symbolization characterized by the relation between a sample and what it refers to In syntactic analysis, if a word refers to a previous word, the previous word is called the antecedent.

Meaning

Frege argued that reference cannot be treated as identical with meaning: "Hesperus" (an ancient Greek name for the evening star) and "Phosphorus" (an ancient Greek name for the morning star) both refer to Venus, but the astronomical fact that '"Hesperus" is "Phosphorus"' can still be informative, even if the 'meanings' of both "Hesperus" and "Phosphorus" are already known. Friedrich Ludwig Gottlob Frege ( 8 November 1848, Wismar, Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin  &ndash 26 July 1925 In Greek mythology, Hesperus ( Greek grc Ἓσπερος Hesperos) (Roman equivalent Vesper cf Phosphorus, (ˈfɒsfərəs is the Chemical element that has the symbol P and Atomic number 15 The VENUS ( V ictoria E xperimental N etwork U nder the S ea project is a cabled sea floor observatory operated by the University This problem led Frege to distinguish between the sense and reference of a word. The distinction between Sinn and Bedeutung (usually but not always translated sense and reference, respectively was an innovation of the German philosopher

Absent referent

Main article: Absent referent

Words can often be meaningful without having a referent. Absent Referent (sometimes Missing Referent, or Missing Antecedent) is a concept from Linguistics, and is the condition of a sign which Fictional and mythological names such as "Bo-Peep" and "Hercules" illustrate this possibility.

For those who argue that one cannot directly experience the divine (e. g. God), the sign "God" can serve as an example of a reference with an absent referent. God is the principal or sole Deity in Religions and other belief systems that worship one deity. Additionally, certain sects of Judaism and other religions consider it sinful to write, discard, or deface the name of the divine. Judaism (from the Greek Ioudaïsmos, derived from the Hebrew יהודה Yehudah, " Judah " in Hebrew יַהֲדוּת Yahedut To avoid this problem, the signifier G-d is sometimes used, though this could be seen as a sign which refers to another sign with an absent referent. In Judaism, the name of God is more than a distinguishing title

In mathematics, the absent referent can be seen with the symbol for zero, "0" or the empty set, "{ }".

Linguistic sign

Main article: Sign (linguistics)

The semantic sign can be considered a subset of a more general concept, the linguistic sign, first elucidated by Ferdinand de Saussure‎. There are many models of the linguistic sign (see also Sign (semiotics) There are many models of the linguistic sign (see also Sign (semiotics) Ferdinand de Saussure (fɛʁdinɑ̃ də soˈsyːʁ ( November 26, 1857 – February 22, 1913) was a Swiss linguist A sign contains two parts, the signified (a thought which represents an object), and the signifier (the sound or written word). In Semiotics, a sign is "something that stands for something else to someone in some capacity" In Semiotics, a sign is "something that stands for something else to someone in some capacity" Both have a referent (the actual physical object). The sign is a building block for texts that supplies sound and meaning. The smallest building block is called a morpheme and may be lexical (or referential, carry lexical/encyclopedic meaning, i. In Morpheme-based morphology, a morpheme is the smallest linguistic unit that has semantic meaning. In Linguistics, the lexicon (from Greek Λεξικόν of a language is its Vocabulary, including its words and expressions e. refer to real-life entities). This kind of extra-linguistic reference is called deixis after a Greek word meaning "to point". In Pragmatics and Linguistics, deixis is collectively the orientational features of human languages to have reference to points in time space and the speaking event In contrast, grammatical morphemes express reference to more abstract categories such as time (tense) or location (locative). Locative (also called the seventh case) is a Grammatical case which indicates a location Certain parts of speech exist only in order to express reference, viz. anaphora, i. In Rhetoric, an anaphora (ἀναφορά "carrying back" is emphasizing words by repeating them at the beginnings of neighboring clauses e. typically pronouns. In Linguistics and Grammar, a pronoun is a Pro-form that substitutes for a (including a noun phrase consisting of a single Noun) with or The subset of reflexives reflexive express co-reference of agent (actor) and patient (acted-upon), as in "The man washed himself".

Art

In Art, a reference is an item from which a work is based. Art refers to a diverse range of Human activities creations and expressions that are appealing to the Senses or Emotions of a human individual This may include an existing artwork, a reproduced (i. e. photo) or directly observed (i. e. person) object, or the artist's memory.

Academic writing

In academic literature, a reference is a previously published written work within academic publishing which has been used as a source for theory or claims referred to which are used in the text. Academic publishing describes the subfield of Publishing which distributes academic Research and Scholarship. References contain complete bibliographic information so the interested reader can find them in a library. References can be added either at the end of the publication, or as footnotes. A footnote (or bootnote) is a note of text placed at the bottom of a page in a book or document

Computer science

Main article: Reference (computer science)

In computer science, references are datatypes which refer to an object elsewhere in memory, and are used to construct a wide variety of data structures such as linked lists. In Computer science, a reference is an object containing information which refers to data stored elsewhere as opposed to containing the data itself Computer science (or computing science) is the study and the Science of the theoretical foundations of Information and Computation and their In Computer science, a reference is an object containing information which refers to data stored elsewhere as opposed to containing the data itself A data type in Programming languages is an attribute of a datum which tells the computer (and the programmer something about the kind of datum it is A data structure in Computer science is a way of storing Data in a computer so that it can be used efficiently In Computer science, a linked list is one of the fundamental Data structures and can be used to implement other data structures Most programming languages support some form of reference. A programming language is an Artificial language that can be used to write programs which control the behavior of a machine particularly a Computer.

The C++ programming language has a specific type of reference also referred to as a reference; see reference (C++). C++ (" C Plus Plus " ˌsiːˌplʌsˈplʌs is a general-purpose Programming language. In the C++ Programming language, a reference is a simple reference datatype that is less powerful but safer than the Pointer type inherited from

Geometry

A reference point is a location used to describe another one, by giving the relative position. Similarly we have the concept of frame of reference (both in physics and figuratively), benchmark (in surveying and figuratively), etc. See also Inertial frame A frame of reference in Physics, may refer to a Coordinate system or set of axes within which to This article is about the use of bench marks in surveying for other uses see Bench mark.

Libraries

In a library, the word reference may refer to a dictionary, encyclopedia, or other reference work that contains many brief articles that cover a broad scope of knowledge in one book, or a set of books. A library is a collection of information sources resources and services and the structure in which it is housed it is organized for use and maintained by a public body an institution A dictionary is a book of alphabetically listed Words in a specific language with definitions etymologies pronunciations and other information or a book of alphabetically An encyclopedia (or '''encyclopædia''') is a comprehensive written Compendium that contains Information on either all branches of Knowledge This article is about a kind of publication Reference work may also refer to the work that librarians perform at a Library reference desk. However, the word reference is also used to mean a book that cannot be taken from the room, or from the building. Many of the books in the reference department of a library are reference works, but some are books that are simply too large or valuable to loan out. Conversely, selected reference works may be shelved with other circulating books, and may be loaned out. Library circulation or library lending comprises the activities around the lending of Library books and other material to users of a Lending library.

References to any type of printed matter come in electronic or at least machine-readable form nowadays. For books there exists the ISBN, for journal articles, the digital object identifier (DOI) is gaining relevance. A digital object identifier ( DOI) is a permanent identifier given to an Electronic document. Printed information on the Internet is usually referred to by some kind of uniform resource identifier (URI). The Internet is a global system of interconnected Computer networks

Scholarship

In scholarship, a reference may be a citation of a text that has been used in the creation of a piece of work such as an essay, report, or oration. A citation is a reference to a source (not always the original source published or unpublished(citation needed Its primary purpose is to allow people who read such work to examine the author's sources, either for validity, or simply to learn more about the subject. The term validity (also called logical truth, analytic truth, or necessary truth) as it occurs in Logic refers generally to a property of Such items are often listed at the end of an article or book in a section marked Bibliography or in a section marked References. Bibliography (from Greek grc βιβλιογραφία bibliographia, literally "book writing" as a practice is the academic study of Books In general a reference is a relation between objects in which one object designates by linking to another object A Bibliography section will often contain work not cited by the author, but used as background reading or listed as potentially useful to the reader. Bibliography (from Greek grc βιβλιογραφία bibliographia, literally "book writing" as a practice is the academic study of Books A section labeled References should contain all and only work cited in the main text. In general a reference is a relation between objects in which one object designates by linking to another object

Copying of material by another author without proper citation or without required permissions amounts to 'plagiarism'. Plagiarism is the unauthorized use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one's own original work

Work references

In the labour market potential employers often ask job applicants for references so that their suitability can be verified independently. Labour economics seeks to understand the functioning of the Market and dynamics for labour. The references can be a written letter but are often a contact telephone number. Basic principle A traditional landline telephone system also known as "plain old telephone service" (POTS, commonly handles both signaling and audio information Employers can ask for 'professional' references which are from former employers or for 'character' references which are from people of distinction, such as doctors or teachers, who are known to the applicant and can vouch for their employability.

Canadian law

Main article: reference question

A Reference question, or "Reference" is a procedure through which the government of Canada can submit legal questions to the Supreme Court of Canada and provincial governments to the provincial courts of appeal. In Canadian law, a Reference Question is a submission by the federal or a provincial government to the courts asking for an opinion on a major In Canadian law, a Reference Question is a submission by the federal or a provincial government to the courts asking for an opinion on a major Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page The Supreme Court of Canada ( French: Cour suprême du Canada) is the highest court of Canada and is the final court of appeal in the Canadian

See also

• Antecedent (grammar)
• Exemplification
• Generic antecedents
• Library reference desk
• List of reference tables
• Reference work
• Self-reference

External links

• References.net - a directory of multidisciplinary reference resources on the web
• Reference.com - a multi-source encyclopedia search service, and language reference products provider
• Reference Resources - reference related websites in the Yahoo! Directory

References

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