Sense

The sense (German: Sinn) of an expression is, according to Frege (1892), the way in which its reference (German: Bedeutung) is presented.

"By the sense of a word we mean its place in a system of relationships which it contrasts with other words in the vocabulary." (Lyons 1968:427)

Examples

the sentences (i) and (ii) both have the same truth value (i.e. the same reference), but differ in sense.

(i)  The Morning Star is the Evening Star
(ii) The Morning Star is the Morning Star

See also

• intension and
• extension.

Subtypes

• Paradigmatic relationship of sense
• Syntagmatic relationship of sense

Links

Utrecht Lexicon of Linguistics

References

• Frege, G. 1892. Uber Sinn und Bedeutung, Zeitschrift fur Philosophie und philosophische Kritik 100,
• Gamut, L.T.F. 1991. Logic, language, and meaning, Univ. of Chicago Press, Chicago.

Lyons, John. 1968. Introduction to Theoretical Linguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Other language

German Sinn