Prof. S.A. Zhabotynska
General Linguistics
(5th year)
Lecture 2
LANGUAGE: A GENERAL SURVEY
Contents
1. Language as a semiotic system
A sign
The Signified
The Signifier
Language as a specific sign system
2. Human language vs. animal communication
3. Functions of language
4. Origin of language
1.3.
1.1.
1.4.
1.2.
1.
Language
4.
2.
Human language vs. Animal communication
3.
1. Language as a semiotic system
1.1. A Sign
Language is a system of signs. Signs are diverse; they are not restricted to language only (e.g. snow is a sign of winter, sneezing is a sign of cold, a short skirt is a sign of a young lady, etc.). Various signs and sign systems are studied by Semiotics. The study of linguistic signs is known as Linguistic Semiotics.
What is a sign? It is a form that stands for something else understood as its meaning. A sign is used to represent this meaning and to evoke it in the human mind. The meaning is a concept – the image of an entity in the physical (experiential) or non-physical (fictitious) world. In Semiotics, such an entity is called the designatum (referent), while a sign is termed the designator. A sign has both the meaning (an image of the referent), and the material form. The meaning of a sign is called the signified, and the material form of a sign is named the signifier.
1.2.The signified
The signified (concept, or meaning) is not a mirrored image of the referent. The signified is construed by the human mind, being a subjective image of the experienced reality. Such construals constitute information accumulated in the memory for further retrieval. In LANGUAGE, this information may belong to several domains: ontological (our knowledge about the world), axiological (the way we assess this information, e.g. characterizing something as positive or negative, approximate or exact, much or little, true or false, etc.), modal (our inclinations and the states of mind as to the prospective behavior, e.g. wishes, abilities, obligations, etc.), and pragmatic (our knowledge of the standards of linguistic interaction, e.g. in greetings and farewells, compliments, asking for and giving information, etc.).
1.3.The signifier
The signifier has its material form that in the majority of cases is prescribed by the semiotic system to which the sign belongs, e.g. musical, pictorial or mathematical signs. In LANGUAGE, there are sound, written, and gesture forms.
The material form of the signifier may relate to the signified (meaning) in different ways.
The signs called icons (iconic signs) have physical resemblance to what they signify (e.g. pictures, photographs or movies); the type of relation is iconicity. Cf. onomatopoeia n LANGUAGE (Mew-mew, Quack-quack, to splash, to hiss, etc.).
The signs called indexes represent a whole through exhibiting its feature or part (e.g. yellow leaves as a sign of autumn, high temperature as a sign of flue, etc.); the type of relation is contiguity, or natural contact. Cf. metonymy in LANGUAGE (The Red Hat = a girl, a four-wheeler = a car, the yellow /of an egg/).
The signs called symbols relate to the referent figuratively, and their link with the referent is often culture-based (e.g. a golden ring as a sign of marriage, a black dress as a sign of mourning); the type of relation is similarity. The latter is not ‘natural’, as the parameter of resemblance is established by humans. Cf. metaphor in LANGUAGE (a donkey = a stubborn person, a chicken = a coward).
The signs called signals are linked to their referents arbitrarily, being based on an agreement within the society (e.g. a bell as the sign to stop working, some melody signaling a certain event); the type of relation is convention. Cf. in LANGUAGE: a man, a wall, a chair, etc.
Icons, indexes and symbols are motivated signs: their relation to the referent can be explained. Signals, whose link with the referent cannot be established, are non-motivated signs.