Referent and Reference

by Maria Odete Madeira

Any existent can, in any language, be considered a referent, whose existence can be linguistically built in a statement external to it.

Any referential expression is directed towards one or more referents, with which the respective sense(s) and meaning(s) are related.

We are before an act of reference, whenever one states an expression that identifies or names an existent.

In a semiotic language, any sign can be approached as a referent or as a reference, depending upon the position and systemic dynamics of each entity/sign in the statement.

In a situation or process of self-reference, a rotative coincidence is realized, in which the system folds upon itself, in itself. Whenever this occurs, we are before a dynamics of autopoiesis.