Signed Languages: A Triangular Semiotic Dimension

Since the beginning of signed language research, the linguistic units have been divided into conventional, standard and fixed signs, all of which were considered as the core of the language, and iconic and productive signs, put at the edge of language. In the present paper, we will review different models proposed by signed language researchers over the years to describe the signed lexicon, showing how to overcome the hierarchical division between standard and productive lexicon. Drawing from the semiotic insights of Peirce we proposed to look at signs as a triadic construction built on symbolic, iconic, and indexical features. In our model, the different iconic, symbolic, and indexical features of signs are seen as the three sides of the same triangle, detectable in the single linguistic sign (Capirci, 2018; Puupponen, 2019). The key aspect is that the dominance of the feature will determine the different use of the linguistic unit, as we will show with examples from different discourse types (narratives, conference talks, poems, a theater monolog).

Denotation Variation Degree of Linguistic Sign: an Experimental Study of Interpretative Activity

This article features the concept of denotation variation degree of the linguistic sign, which remains largely understudied. The research introduced the term "denotation variation degree" and revealed its practical and theoretic significance, both for general linguistics and for particular aspects related to the world denotation variation degree as part of individual interpretation. The objective was to describe the denotation variation degree as high or low based on specific vocabulary. The linguistic experiment included two steps; speakers were given a model situation and asked to interpret a definition. Test results demonstrated a low variation degree at the level of the word and denotation correlation because the denotate component had a low potential for notional plurality. High variation degree appeared in connotative and associational word components with a higher potential for the different notional variants.

Stanislav Lem on the philosophy of language: recovery from fragments of phrases

This article examines some of S. Lem’s statements about his philosophical and worldview positions regarding the mysterious nature of language and the linguistic sign, the connection between language, mind and reality. The main goal of the paper is to understand what texts on the philosophy of language the Polish thinker read and what attitude he has formed towards them. Lem is the follower of an analytical intellectual culture that focuses on the naturalistic worldview and the consequences of the “linguistic turn” in Western philosophy. For Lem, language is not only an interesting philosophical object, but also a complex precise instrument of his own creative thinking. In this regard, the philosophy of language for a writer cannot be based only on logical-linguistic atomistic methodology. Lem seeks (and finds) in his contemporary interdisciplinary methods ways to combine realistic and anti-realist positions. Many concepts, such as “the effect of semantic transparency”, “polymorphic language model”, “variation model” are quite correlated with modern theories of language and require additional philosophical comments.

Makna Konotasi dan Denotasi dalam Lirik Lagu Himalaya karya Maliq D’essentials

Ferdinand De Saussure explains the meaning is concept that has or is present in a linguistic sign. Songs are a medium for expressing someone's feelings that are written in writing and have aesthetic values in these expressions. This study examines the meaning of a song, namely the Himalayan song sung by Maliq D'Essentials. The verse not only conveys the message openly, but there is a figurative meaning there. This research was conducted based on the author's observation of a song lyrics in the form of expressions of meaning, both denotative and connotative meanings. This research approach uses a semantic approach because semantics is a branch of science that studies the meaning of an expression. The method used in this research is descriptive qualitative method. The data collection technique used was the observation result technique, namely observing the Himalayan Maliq D'Essentials song as a research subject to study the meaning expression in each verse of the song with the depiction of the meaning of "Himalaya" as a figurative meaning expressed in denotation.

The Future as a Scenario of Hospitality in Ali Smith’s There But For The

The purpose of this essay is to demonstrate how Ali Smith’s novel There But For The (2011) foregrounds a temporality in which the scenario of hospitality is encoded into the characters’ perception of the future, while the welcoming scenarios in which they engage are themselves marked by the awareness of futurity. To this end, I rework Levinas’s equation of the future as the Other, as well as Derrida’s notions of conditional and unconditional hospitality, of the future as the expected/unexpected event, and of “choratic space.” The subsequent analysis of the novel proves how these notions are thematized both through the characters’ inner and intersubjective discourse, and via the authorial construction of imagery and the deictics of the spaces they inhabit. As such, the characters’ conversations bear the marks of an uncertain causality springing from the welcoming scenario; attitudes towards futurity are faced with the disquieting awareness of the conflict between the expected and the unexpected event; while the choratic space acts as the possibility of an ethical reaction to the strangers’ singularity, through a linguistic reorientation which employs the contingency of the linguistic sign as a site for hospitality.

Towards a Communicative Model of Language of International Law: From Linguistic Sign to Cognitive Complements

From past up to here one of the most important questions in international law has been focused on how interpretation of IL texts and instruments should be elaborated. Answering this question definitely, we could see the positive results. Despite all of the efforts of ICJ, UN special comities for conclusion of VCLT in 1969 and the other international law organs, we observe basic problems and inconveniences while trying to understand IL instruments and texts. Some scholars have tried to create links between hermeneutic, the knowledge of comprehending and interpreting texts, while the others, have tried to analyze in detail the unseen intentions of VCLT creators and writers specially when speaking about terms like “context” and “ordinary meaning”. We believe that deciphering some specific VCLT terms and also, understanding the true sense of language of international law is not possible but through interdisciplinary innovator sturdies which could show the necessity of understanding the “communicative language” designed for IL.

Axiological aspect of modern german ethnosymbols in teaching german language

Based on the axiological approach, it has been established that the moral-ethical orientations of the German society have been internalized in the minds of the ethnos and verbalized by the ethnosymbols. An ethnosymbol is a motivated, conventional linguistic sign with multiple meaning that embodies important cultural meaningful concepts. The reasons for the formation of ethnosymbols are the specificity and duration of interethnic contacts, social, political and economic conditions for the development of ethnic groups. The semantic structure of the ethnosymbol is formed on the basis of national associative relationships commonly used in a particular sociolinguistic system of agreements. The aim of the article is to establish the value dominants of German culture on the basis of the analysis of ethnic symbols as important components of the linguistic picture of the world. Symbolic meaning as an associative rethinking of the direct and figurative meanings of the word involves taking into account the social function and ethnocultural specifics of the denoted object. National verbal associations are a prerequisite for the formation of symbolic semantics of the word, but the involvement of only linguistic methods does not provide a thorough and comprehensive study. The connection between language and language consciousness can be explored through an associative experiment. The results of such an experiment make it possible not only to establish the features of verbal memory, mental lexicon, cultural stereotypes, but also to reflect the specifics of the worldview of the language community. Most German ethnic symbols objectify such concepts as order, punctuality, purity, diligence, thrift. The set of the value dominants creates a certain type of the culture that has been maintained in the language and is transferred from generation to generation.

A Socio-semiotic Analysis of Qat culture in Yemen

Qat, Catha edulis has become synonymous with Yemen, as the phenomenon of Qat chewing in Yemen dates back hundreds of years in history. No social, cultural, or political gathering in the afternoon time can do without Qat. Afternoon time becomes the sign of Qat sessions and socialization. Despite Yemen's openness to other cultures and the recent revolution in all kinds of social media, Yemenis do not stop the habit of chewing Qat. The purpose of the present research work is to analyze 'Qat' as a linguistic sign consisting of a signifier and a signified to understand its various social, cultural, and political signifieds that give it the semiotic power to dominate all aspects of life in Yemen and to ground the coinage of many lexical items that are culturally specific to Qat culture and Yemeni dialects. The present paper uses semiotics as a research method in which it adopts Saussure's linguistic model of sign, signifier, and signified and Barthes' concepts of denotation and connotation. Semiotically, this paper shows that the Yemeni people are not addicted to Qat as a drug, as might be assumed by some foreigners who are not familiar with the sign system of Yemeni culture. The Yemeni people are addicted to Qat as a polysemous sign that is associated with values, norms, rituals, enjoyment, relationship, and socialization at the connotative level.

Memory for Text: The Relationship between Form and Meaning

A linguistic sign, according to Saussure (1966), is a combination of a signifier (form) and a signified (meaning). Form without meaning is just half of the sign. Although in some situations surface forms are excellently retained in memory over time, in most circumstances, explicit long term memory for the surface details or memory for forms of long-past linguistic events is poor or non-existent. Taylor (2012) and Port (2007), however, have proposed that there may be implicitly accumulated memory traces for all aspects of the language— nothing is thrown away. In the present study, 'form refers to physical properties or surface features such as the orthographic, phonological and acoustic representations of a text, while 'meaning' refers to semantic properties, including contextual and pragmatic information. There are some curiosities about their relationship, which this paper will tease apart. The curiosities relate to how language is processed, represented and retained in different circumstances.