Calling something a meaningless or empty reference is nonsensical in a world where meaning is equal to perceived meaning which in turn is equal to specific conditions of neurons and neurochemical reactions indistinguishable from those in your "substantive" references to reality
What goes on in the mind when it understands truth is only more complex or more substantive when there is more substance to the truth. Falsehood is made of the same stuff that truth is. It just doesn't map to anything. The map of the map is not the territory