as I remember it the distinction is being downplayed somewhat for Perl 6. People need to use references so often that in Perl 6 you're going to tend to get references to things by default, rather than as a special case that you need to ask for.
There is some truth in what you say, but I'm not
sure it really applies in this context. Perl6 will
still have the distinction between the reference and
the thing being referenced. Yes, the basic shorthand
dereferencing notation will dereference as many levels
as necessary to get down to the referenced object
(though I assume there will be a way to dereference
just one level, if that's what you need to do), and
yes, some builtins will handle things a bit
differently, but the distinction between a reference
and the thing that it references is certainly not
going away. Perl6 will not be Perl5, but it will
still be Perl.
"In adjectives, with the addition of inflectional endings, a changeable long vowel (Qamets or Tsere) in an open, propretonic syllable will reduce to Vocal Shewa. This type of change occurs when the open, pretonic syllable of the masculine singular adjective becomes propretonic with the addition of inflectional endings."
— Pratico & Van Pelt, BBHG, p68
