Reference

We use language to refer to persons and things, directly or indirectly. Reference is the relationship that holds between a word or expression and the objects it refers to (called referent). Reference is variable and utter-dependent. By means of reference, a speaker wants to indicate a particular thing in a particular situation, not things in general. In talking of reference, we deal with the relationships between language and the world. In other words, reference is a relationship between parts of a language and things outside in the language (in the world). i.e. by means of reference, a speaker indicates which things in the world (including persons) are being talked about.

Notes
Every expression that has meaning has sense, but not every expression has reference. The reference of an expression vary according to the circumstances (time, place, etc.) in which the expression is used, or the topic of the conversation in which the expression is used.

Two different expressions can have the same referent.

Types of reference
According to Halliday and Hassan (1976), there are two types of reference. a. Endophora: textual
Anaphora (anaphoric reference): to preceding text.

Cataphora (cataphoric reference): to following text

b. Exophora (exophoric reference): situational. e.g. - It is very nice. (It = the room)
- They are very active (They = The children)

Anaphora - Anaphoric reference

Anaphora is the use of a word or a group of words which refer back to another part of the text.

e.g. The students were excited about their first encounter with a class. They had prepared carefullty, but they still didnt know how they would cope in front of thirty hormonal teenagers.
Anaphoric reference can be intrasentential (within a sentence) or intersentential (across sentences) e.g. The President has set himself a difficult task

The bill, which Daniel said he drafted personally, ...

Monte Brooks died on Thursday. He lived at 45 Elizabeth Street.

Cataphora - Cataphoric reference

Cataphora is the use of a word or a phrase which refer forward to another word or phrase which will be used later in a text or conversation. e.g. It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man possession of a good fortune muat be in want of a wife. My reasons are as follows. One, I am out of money ... Here is the news. The Prime Minister has ....

Anaphoric is more common that cataphoric. This is usually because the reader/listener has to be introduced to something before a reference can be made to it.