Indexicality

In linguistics and in philosophy of language, an indexical behavior or utterance points to (or indicates) some state of affairs. For example, I refers to whoever is speaking; now refers to the time at which that word is uttered; and here refers to the place of utterance. For Charles Sanders Peirce, "indexicality" is one of three sign modalities (see next paragraph), and is a phenomenon far broader than language. Anything we can construe as a sign that points to something – including a weathervane (an index of wind direction), or smoke (an index of fire) – is operating indexically. In the human realm, social indexicality includes any sign (clothing, speech variety, table manners) that points to, and helps create, social identity.

Pragmatics and Indexicality

Indexicality is often treated as part of the study of language called pragmatics – in contrast to such fields as phonology, syntax, and semantics – in that it concerns the use and effects of language. Indexicality is sometimes seen as an alternative way of understanding reference (a concept of semantics) since it allows for an expansion of the way we understand language, and communication in general, to work. Scholars in linguistic anthropology, Elinor Ochs for example, note how gender can be indexed by the stances one adopts, whether physical or linguistic. This can be accomplished by the way one stands (e.g., the conventionally feminine: "hand on hip with body bent"; in contrast to the conventionally masculine: "thumb in pocket, standing straight with legs apart"). Gender can also be indexed by the language styles one uses (e.g., the conventionally feminine: "large variable range in speaking tones, favoring higher pitches" or "lisping, soft tones"; in contrast to the conventionally masculine: "deep tones within a narrow range of low pitches") [5]. Indexicality is closely related to deixis, which denotes a behavior or an utterance whose meaning varies according to certain features of the context in which it is uttered. Now, here, and I are also typical examples of deictic terms, as well as examples of indexical terms.

The related term "index" comes from Charles Peirce's trichotomy of signs: icon, index, and symbol.

Indexicals are closely related to demonstratives (this, that), in that both vary in meaning depending on context. Demonstratives may be thought of as forming a subset of indexicals: they are often accompanied, in ordinary usage, by pointing gestures or other non-verbal expressions of their sense. Many but not all indexicals are also egocentric, which means that in order to successfully interpret them the hearer must have knowledge of the respective speaker, time, and place of utterance.

Ch. S. Peirce's Trichotomy of Signs

Ch. S. Peirce elaborated three central trichotomies of sign. The first depends on whether the sign itself is a quality or an actual thing or a habit (tone, token, type, also called qualisign, sinsign, legisign). The second (icon, index, symbol) depends on the kind of reference to the denoted object. The third depends on the kind of reference which the sign will be interpreted as making. Most famous is the second trichotomy [7]:

• Icon, also called a likeness or semblance: a sign that is linked to its represented object by some shared quality (which may vary from physical appearances, common actions, distinct sounds, etc.). An example of this would be the stick-figure pictorial representations of men and women on the door of a public restroom. This is iconic because it is meant to signify a man or woman through a simplified visual representation. An icon does not depend on an actual connection to its object (which may fail to exist) or on a habit of interpretation.

• Index: a sign that is linked to its object by an actual connection or real relation (irrespectively of interpretation), for instance, by a reaction, so as to compel attention, in a definite place and time. A simple example is an "Exit" sign which has an arrow pointing towards the exit. Smoke billowing from a house is an index for a fire inside.

• Symbol: a symbol represents its denoted object by virtue of an interpretive habit or rule that is independent of any shared physical quality, contextual contiguity, or lack thereof, with that which it denotes. A symbol consists in that rule. A word such as "horse" is an example of a symbol which, additionally, is specific to a particular language and prescribes the qualities of its instances, which, then, are noticeably arbitrary with respect to iconic qualities and indexical connections. Most spoken language (with the exception of instances of onomatopoeia like 'hiccup' and 'roar') is symbolic because it is arbitrary in those senses. For example, the English word “window” has no relation to any actual physical window. Peirce usually considered personal names and demonstratives like "this" to be indices, not symbols.