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<span id="openzim-page-title" class="mw-page-title-main"><span class="mw-page-title-main">Triangle of reference</span></span>
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<p>The <b>triangle of reference</b> (also known as the <b>triangle of meaning</b><sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-1"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>1<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> and the <b><a href="Semiotics" title="Semiotics">semiotic</a> triangle</b>) is a model of how linguistic symbols relate to the objects they represent. The triangle was published in <i><a href="The_Meaning_of_Meaning" title="The Meaning of Meaning">The Meaning of Meaning</a></i> (1923) by <a href="Charles_Kay_Ogden" title="Charles Kay Ogden">Charles Kay Ogden</a> and <a href="I._A._Richards" title="I. A. Richards">I. A. Richards</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> While often referred to as the "Ogden/Richards triangle", the idea was also expressed in 1810 by <a href="Bernard_Bolzano" title="Bernard Bolzano">Bernard Bolzano</a>, in his <i>Beiträge zu einer begründeteren Darstellung der Mathematik</i>. The triangle can be traced back to 4th century BC, in <a href="Aristotle" title="Aristotle">Aristotle</a>'s <i><a href="De_Interpretatione" class="mw-redirect" title="De Interpretatione">Peri Hermeneias</a></i>. The Triangle relates to the <a href="Problem_of_universals" title="Problem of universals">problem of universals</a>, a philosophical debate which split ancient and medieval philosophers, especially <a href="Platonic_realism" class="mw-redirect" title="Platonic realism">realists</a> and <a href="Nominalism" title="Nominalism">nominalists</a>.
</p><p>The triangle describes a simplified form of relationship between the speaker as the <i>subject</i>, a concept as an <i>object</i> or <i>referent</i>, and its designation (<i>sign</i>, signans).
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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="See_also">See also</h2></div>
<ul><li><a href="Direction_of_fit" title="Direction of fit">Direction of fit</a></li>
<li><a href="The_Message_in_the_Bottle#"The_Delta_Factor"" title="The Message in the Bottle">The Delta Factor</a></li>
<li><i><a href="De_dicto_and_de_re" title="De dicto and de re">De dicto and de re</a></i></li>
<li><i><a href="De_se" title="De se">De se</a></i></li></ul>
<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="References">References</h2></div>
<div class="mw-references-wrap"><ol class="references">
<li id="cite_note-1"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-1">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="Colin_Cherry" title="Colin Cherry">Colin Cherry</a> (1957) <i>On Human Communication</i></span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-2"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-2">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="C._K._Ogden" class="mw-redirect" title="C. K. Ogden">C. K. Ogden</a> and <a href="I._A._Richards" title="I. A. Richards">I. A. Richards</a> (1923) <i><a href="The_Meaning_of_Meaning" title="The Meaning of Meaning">The Meaning of Meaning</a></i></span>
</li>
</ol></div>
<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="External_links">External links</h2></div>
<ul><li>Jessica Erickstad (1998) <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20080110140900/http://www.colorado.edu/communication/meta-discourses/Papers/App_Papers/Erickstad.htm"><i>Richards' Meaning of Meaning Theory</i></a>. University of Colorado at Boulder.</li>
<li>Allie Cahill (1998) <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20080102230650/http://www.colorado.edu/communication/meta-discourses/Papers/App_Papers/Cahill.htm"><i>"Proper Meaning Superstition" (I. A. Richards)</i></a>. University of Colorado at Boulder.</li></ul>
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