linguistics Linguistics is the science, scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure ...

, referential indeterminacy is a situation in which different people vary in naming objects. For example,

William Labov William Labov ( ; born December 4, 1927) is an American linguist widely regarded as the founder of the discipline of variationist sociolinguistics. He has been described as "an enormously original and influential figure who has created much of ...

studied this effect using illustrations of different drinking vessels to see what people would label as "cups" and what people would label as "mugs".

See also