Language as the system of signs
2.1. Signs in semiotics
Language is a system of signs. Signs are diverse; they are not restricted to language only; e.g. snow is a sign of winter; a portrait of a person is a sign of this person; music is a sign of emotions. Various signs and sign systems are studied by semiotics. The studies of particular systems of signs are known as biosemiotics (deals with all kinds of sign-based processes in living systems), ethnosemiotics (semiotics of culture), semiotics of movies, semiotics of music, semiotics of literature, etc. The study of linguistic signs is defined as linguistic semiotics.
What is a sign? It is a form that stands for something else – an entity in the experienced physical or non-physical (fictitious) world. Information about this entity becomes the sign’s meaning, which is retained in the mind as a concept or mental construct. When created, a sign intends to manifest this meaning; when applied, a sign intends to evoke this meaning in the mind. The process of creating and using a sign is termed semiosis. It is represented by interaction of several constituents, the basic ones being a sign, the experienced entity for which this sign stands, and the sign user.
Constituents of semiosis
In semiotics, the entity for which a sign stands is called the designatum, and the sign itself is known as the designator. A sign as the designator is a bilateral unity of the meaning (a concept in the mind), and the material form (a vehicle) in which the sign appears. The meaning of a sign is the signified, and the material form of a sign is the signifier. Language has sound, written, and gesture material forms.
The relations between the designatum, designator, signifier and signified is conventionally demonstrated with the ‘semiotic triangle’ model proposed by Charles Ogden and Ivor Richards in 1923. This model, which develops the earlier ideas of Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913) and Charles Pierce (1839-1914), the founders of semiotics, exists in its various versions, all of which attempt to show how a sign is related to the experienced entity which it represents. Later, the model was supplied with one more constituent – ‘the interpreter’ (concepualizer) described in detail by Charles Morris (1901-1979) who applied this term to an organism for which something is a sign. Below, is one more version of the ‘semiotic triangle’ (Fig. 1.2) which helps to account for the interaction between the constituents of semiosis.
The relation between the SIGN and its DESIGNATUM is called designation. The designatum may be of two kinds: (1) the referent as an individual entity; e.g. William Shakespeare, (2) the denotatum as a class of similar entities; e.g. poets (Sic! In semiotics, the term denotatum also means ‘the actually existing entity’, as opposed to the designatum as ‘any object or class of objects, whether existing or not’).
While presenting the designatum, signs perform either a deictic function or a representational function. Respectively, such signs are termed deictic and representational. Deictic signs (like a finger or an arrow showing direction) just ‘point’ to things in one’s scope of attention. Such things may be different in different situations, i.e. a deictic sign does not designate one and the same thing. Since deictic signs used in isolation evoke a minimal scope of invariable information, their meanings depend on the context and position of the sign user. In language, deictic signs are exemplified by pronouns (this, that, I, you, he, here, there, etc.), and non-precedential (non-paragon) proper names (Jack, William, Mary, etc.). Representational signs stand for an invariable designatum (an individual or a class) the information about which constitutes a more or less permanent meaning of such signs. In language, representational signs are exemplified by precedential (paragon) proper names (William Shakespeare, London, the Thames, etc.) and common names, such as a poet, to run, blue, five, etc.
The relation between the DESIGNATUM and the SIGNIFIED (meaning of a sign) is construal. The signified is not a mirrored image of the designatum. The signified, as a concept in the mind, is construed, i.e. it is a subjective image of the experienced entity. For instance, the conceptual system of humans is created by both nature and nurture: its biologically inborn principles of information processing are further elaborated due to manipulations with objects and due to socializing – communication with others, education and exposure to culture. Differences in individual and societal perceptions and conceptions account for differences in mental construal of one and the same experienced object.
The signified as a mental representation of the denotatum is more abstract, or schematic: it retains information about the properties which are shared by the members of a class. Such signified becomes the systemic meaning of a sign. The signified as a mental representation of the referent is more specific: besides information about the properties of a class to which the referent belongs, it retains information about its own individual properties. Such signified is the referential meaning of a sign.
The relation between the SIGNIFIER (form) and the SIGNIFIED (meaning) of a sign is defined as signification. The signified, as the meaning manifested or evoked by some form, may be constituted by information that belongs to several conceptual domains: ontological (information about the world), axiological (assessment of this information as positive or negative, approximate or exact, sufficient or insufficient, true or false, etc.), modal (attitude to this information – one’s wishes, abilities, obligations, etc. that may determine one’s prospective behavior), and pragmatic (knowledge about the norms of social interaction in different communicative settings). E. g. the word trash lit. ‘rubbish’, when used figuratively, has the meaning ‘worthless people’ (ontology), ‘bad’ (axiology), ‘should be avoided’ (modality), ‘an obscene word which may be used in informal interaction (pragmatics). Therefore, the signified (meaning) may be a synthetic concept. As a constituent of the conceptual system, a concept – be it an image, gestalt, notion or event schema – becomes an operational unit that is retained in the memory and employed holistically for information processing.
The scope of information retained in the meaning of a sign depends on the sign’s form, or the signifier. More form is associated with more meaning. In language, concepts evoked by different linguistic forms – morphemes, lexemes, texts, etc. – evoke gradually increasing amounts of information. They are respectively called morphological, lexical, textual, etc. concepts.
The relation between the DESIGNATOR (a sign) and the INTERPRETER (conceptualizer) is called interpretation. Besides the concept retained in the mind, a sign (its material vehicle) evokes interpretation of this concept by the sign user. This interpretation is the user’s reaction to the meaning of a sign. Charles Morris illustrates interpretation with a situation, when a traveler, ready to go to a specific geographical area, receives a letter from a friend describing that region. The traveler then packs his luggage in accordance with the information provided by his friend in the letter. Here, the letter is the sign, the geographic conditions are the designatum of the sign, the traveler’s preparations regarding what to pack are the interpretation of the sign (the effect that the sign produces in the interpreter), and the traveler is the interpreter. In this example, there is one more important element – the traveler’s being ready to go to the described geographical region, or his intention (predisposition). In Roman Jacobson’s works it is called ‘interpretanta’ (інтерпретанта, установка). Interpretation of a sign also depends on the context, which is considered to be an additional constituent of semiosis.
Interpretation, as the result of semiosis, is influenced by its other constituents (the signified, signifier, interpreter, and his/her intention): their change may cause change of interpretation. E.g.
(a) UNIVERSITY (context): the bell rings (signifier) end of the class (signified, meaning) students (interpreter) ready to stop working (intention) rest (interpretation);
(b) UNIVERSITY (context): the bell rings (signifier) end of the class (signified, meaning) students (interpreter) ready to do the assignment not prepared at home (intention) no rest (interpretation);
(b) UNIVERSITY (the context): the bell rings (signifier) end of the class (signified, meaning) cafeteria staff (interpreter) ready to start working (intention) work (interpretation);
(c) PARTY AT HOME (context): the bell rings (signifier) somebody has come (signified, meaning) students (interpreters) suspect that these are the hosts’ parents who went away for the weekend and who are unaware of th party (intention) displeased by their unexpected arrival (interpretation).
In semiotics, the relations ‘designator – designatum’ and ‘signifier – signified’ underlie classifications of signs.