Full Idea
Characteristic of expression is the presence of 'reference' without predication.
Gist of Idea
Reference without predication is the characteristic of expression
Source
Roger Scruton (Representation in Music [1976], p.71)
Book Reference
Scruton,Roger: 'The Aesthetic Understanding' [Methuen 1983], p.71
A Reaction
This echoes (in linguistic terms) Kant's thought that art is 'purposive without purpose'. The remark is comfortable in an essay on music, but it gets more tricky when the topic is literature, or even representational painting.