or thing that a speaker identifies when using a word. Vocabulary from John Searle's speech act theory can be used to define this relationship. According to this theory, the speaker action of identifying a person, place, or thing is called referring. The specific person, place, or thing identified by the speaker is called the referent. Reference itself captures the relationship between the referent and the word or phrase used by the speaker. For referring expressions, the denotation of the phrase is most likely the phrase's referent. For content words, the denotation of the word can refer to any object, real or imagined, to which the word could be applied. Denotation and meaning In "On Sense and Reference", philosopher Gottlob Frege began the conversation about distinctions between meaning and denotation when he evaluated words like the German words "Morgenstern" and "Abendstern". Author Thomas Herbst uses the words "kid" and "child" to illustrate the same concept. According to Herbst, these two words have the same denotation, as they have the same member set; however, "kid" may be used in an informal speech situation whereas "child" may be used in a more formal speech situation. In other fields In computer science, denotational semantics is contrasted with operational semantics. In media studies terminology, denotation is an example of the first level of analysis: what the audience can visually see on a page. Denotation often refers to something literal, and avoids being a metaphor. Here it is usually coupled with connotation which is the second level of analysis, being what the denotation represents. See also Connotation Denotationalism Linguistic competence Principle of compositionality Reference Sense and reference References External links Semiotics for Beginners VirtuaLit Elements of Poetry Philosophy of language Lexicology Meaning (philosophy of language) Formal semantics (natural language)