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Full Idea
Mental files determine the reference of linguistic expressions: an expression refers to what the mental file associated with it refers to (at the time of tokening).
Gist of Idea
A linguistic expression refers to what its associated mental file refers to
Source
François Recanati (Mental Files in Flux [2016], 5)
Book Ref
Recanati,François: 'Mental Files in Flux' [OUP 2016], p.71
A Reaction
Invites the question of how mental files manage to refer, prior to the arrival of a linguistic expression. A mental file is usually fully of descriptions, but it might be no more than a label.