Editing Denotation (section)

=== Denotation and reference ===
Although they have similar meanings, denotation should not be confused with [[reference]].<ref name=":02">{{Cite book|last=Trask|first=R. L.|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/75087994|title=Language and Linguistics: The Key Concepts |publisher=Routledge |date=2007|others=Peter Stockwell|isbn=978-0-415-41358-9|edition=Second|location=Abingdon [England]|pages=51, 66–67|oclc=75087994}}</ref> A reference is a specific person, place, or thing that a speaker identifies when using a word.<ref name=":1" /> Vocabulary from [[John Searle]]'s [[Speech act|speech act theory]] can be used to define this relationship.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Searle|first=John R.|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/818781122|title=Speech acts : an essay in the philosophy of language|date=1969|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-139-17343-8|location=Cambridge|oclc=818781122}}</ref> According to this theory, the speaker's action of identifying a person, place, or thing is called referring. The specific person, place, or thing identified by the speaker is called the referent. Reference itself captures the relationship between the referent and the word or phrase used by the speaker. For [[referring expression]]s, the denotation of the phrase is most likely the phrase's referent. For [[content word]]s, the denotation of the word can refer to any object, real or imagined, to which the word could be applied.<ref name=":0" />