What Does it Take to Refer?

In Ernie Lepore & Barry C. Smith, The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Language. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. pp. 516--554 (2005)
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Abstract

This article makes a number of points about reference, both speaker reference and linguistic reference. The bottom line is simple: reference ain't easy — at least not nearly as easy as commonly supposed. Much of what speakers do that passes for reference is really something else, and much of what passes for linguistic reference is really nothing more than speaker reference. Referring is one of the basic things we do with words, and it would be a good idea to understand what that involves and requires before worrying about the linguistic means by which this is done.

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original Bach, Kent (2006) "What Does It Take To Refer?". In LePore, Ernest, Smith, Barry C., The Oxford Handbook to the Philosophy of Language, pp. 516--554: Oxford University Press (2006)

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Kent Bach
San Francisco State University

Citations of this work

The Lying Test.Eliot Michaelson - 2016 - Mind and Language 31 (4):470-499.
A puzzle about demonstratives and semantic competence.Jeff Speaks - 2017 - Philosophical Studies 174 (3):709-734.
How Proper Names Refer.Imogen Dickie - 2011 - Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 111 (1pt1):43-78.
Reference, Understanding, and Communication.Ray Buchanan - 2013 - Australasian Journal of Philosophy 92 (1):55-70.

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References found in this work

The Varieties of Reference.Gareth Evans - 1982 - Oxford: Oxford University Press. Edited by John Henry McDowell.
How to do things with words.John L. Austin - 1962 - Oxford [Eng.]: Clarendon Press. Edited by Marina Sbisá & J. O. Urmson.
Situations and Attitudes.Jon Barwise & John Perry - 1983 - Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press. Edited by John Perry.

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