The referential function of the language, also called denotative, is the one that privileges information. In a message characterized by the referential function, the sender intends to transmit to his interlocutor with objective information, without elements such as subjectivity, emotion or persuasion.
Examples of texts in which the referential function predominate are theses, scientific articles, textbooks, encyclopedia or dictionary entries and newspaper news.
Examples of texts with referential function
Excerpt from textbook
Textbooks or texts of a didactic nature serve to instruct or facilitate the learning of those who want to learn about a certain topic. These are texts in which the information must be given in a clear and objective way, and there is practically no space, for example, for the sender to express their feelings (emotional function).
The Vegetal Kingdom or Reino Plantae is characterized by autotrophic organisms (they produce their own food) and chlorophylls.
Through sunlight, they carry out the photosynthesis process and, for this reason, they are called photosynthetic beings.
Remember that photosynthesis is the process by which plants absorb solar energy to produce their own energy. This occurs through the action of chlorophyll (pigment associated with the green color of plants) existing in their chloroplasts.
Plants form the base of the food chain. They are producers of organic matter and feed heterotrophic beings, that is, they represent the group responsible for the nutrition of various consuming organisms.
This indicates that without the existence of these autotrophic beings, life on earth would be impossible.
Excerpt of didactic content on "Reino Vegetal", TodaMatéria website.
Encyclopedia entry
Encyclopedias are reference works that gather information on all fields of knowledge. In them we find definitions of terms, concepts, historical events, scientific laws, important personalities, etc. As the aim of the encyclopedia is to inform, the referential function of language predominates.
state
The State is an entity that commands and organizes life in society. There are at least four fundamental characteristics of the State: power, people, centrality and territoriality. This means that the State is a centralized form of power organization that exercises control over a population that lives in a given territory.
In a state, power is organized in institutions such as the government (executive branch), parliament (legislative) and the judiciary. In general terms, the so-called three powers, which constitute the State, exercise the functions of executing the laws and administering public services (executive), formulate laws (legislative) and supervise and judge the application of laws (judiciary).
Excerpt from "Meaning of State", Meanings website.
News
The news is a text that intends to tell the reader about an event, also known as a journalistic fact. The idea is that the news is impartial - that is, it should not express the individual preferences of the writer. There is no room, for example, for persuasion or persuasion (conative function).
More than 80 ministers and deputy ministers, as well as 2,800 specialists involved in the education and environment sectors, pledged to take concrete measures to transform the environmental education by adopting the Berlin Declaration on Education for Sustainable Development (EDS) at the end of a virtual World Conference held from 17 to 19 May 2021.
The Conference, accompanied online by more than 10,000 spectators, was organized by UNESCO in cooperation with the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research and, as an advisory partner, the UNESCO National Commission for Germany.
UNESCO has called for EDS to be a core component of all education systems by 2025.
News excerpt published on the United Nations website: “UNESCO: environmental education should be part of the school curriculum by 2025”, dated 05/26/2021.
Read more about News.
dictionary entry
The dictionary is one of the best examples of the referential function. Your goal is to define the words in the most precise and objective way. Dictionary language departs, for example, from poetic language (poetic function), whose purpose is the production of aesthetic pleasure. The purpose of the dictionary is to give the meaning of words.
Disruptive (adjective):
Which causes or may cause disruption; which ends up interrupting the normal follow-up of a process; interruptive, suspensive. That has the ability to break or change; which breaks down. [Electricity] Which causes the sudden restoration of an electrical current, causing sparks and draining the energy that was accumulated. [Hydraulic] Which causes a change around what obstructs the flow of fluids.
Definition of the word disruptive extracted from Dicio website, Portuguese Online Dictionary.
Scientific article
Academic texts such as scientific articles, theses and dissertations are good examples of using the referential function of language. These texts deal with statistical data, observable facts, experimental results, scientific theories, concepts, etc. There is a clear predominance of the referential function.
The extinction phenomenon is an important part of the evolutionary process, without which biota would remain static over geological time. Living species constitute only a tiny part of the different beings that have existed, and it is possible that something like 99 percent of all those that have ever lived are extinct; the fossil record, with all its imperfections, only tells us a small portion of the immense variety of life that existed on the planet and we will never be able to have a complete and perfect story of how it came to be. developed. While it is difficult to determine the true circumstances that led to the extinction of fossil species, it can be inferred that the causes that caused it are the same as those existing in the present times, summarized as below indicated:
- Habitat destruction or degradation
- Extermination as a result of previous extinctions
- Habitat invasion by aggressive or competing species
- Introduction of pathogens
- Deliberate hunting or killing by anthropic action
- Local or global catastrophic events
Excerpt from a scientific article entitled “Extinction and the fossil record”, by Ibsen de Gusmão Câmara, published in 2007 in the Yearbook of the Geosciences Institute - UFRJ.
Read more about the Scientific article.
See too:
- Language Functions
- meaning of language
- Communication Elements
- Types of language: verbal, nonverbal and mixed