To understand how signs function, semiosis, Morris proposes four elements: Sign vehicle (S), Designatum (D), and Interpretant and interpreter (I). "The mediators are sign vehicles; the taking-account-of are interpretants; the agents of the process are interpreters; what is taken account of are designata" (Morris, 1972: 19). Those elements of semiosis become the foundation of branches of linguistics and basic elements of language. The branches of linguistics are semantics is the study of sign in its relation to designatum, pragmatics the study of sign in relation to interpreter, and syntactics the study of sign in relation to other signs. Based on those semiotic elements, Morris proposes a definition of language: “a language is . . . any inter-subjective set of sign vehicles whose usage is determined by syntactical, semantical, and pragmatical rules” (Morris:48). An objection for this definition of language might be that by extending the four semiotic elements into linguistics and language, Morris’s definition of sign will be problematic since all objects that are symbolically and linguistically associated with other objects are defined as signs. Therefore one might observe the discrepancy of his definition of sign with his examples (See C. J. Ducasse, 1942). Since this paper is aimed at demonstrating my understanding on Morris’ theory of sign, I will describe the problematic aspects of Morris’s arguments if they become obstacles for me to understand his arguments.
Morris argues that the object of semiotic does not deal with particular object, but association of four of them, therefore sign is characterized as: “S is a sign of D for I to the degree that I takes account of D in virtue of the presence of S” (Morris: 19). Designatu...
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...age, and pseudo thing-sentence meta-language (see Hanks: 63-64). For Hanks meta-language might also operate in a quasi-semantical level such as specific technical terms (signs) used in sciences. As we are aware those terms (signs) relate to other signs syntactically, or (if we read Morris in reverse) those terms or signs contain designata that also function as signs. I find Morris’s semiotics is remarkably rich and valid to unfold how signs operate and constitute meanings in our interactions.
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According to Etherington-Wright and Doughty, “The signifier is the form that the sign takes. It can be a word. It can be a word. It can take the form of a specific sound or marks on a piece of paper (a combination of letters of letters or symbols). The signified is the conceptual stage of communication. This is when the sign stimulates a mental idea/image” (Doughty, p. 65). A signifier in Alice in Wonderland, is the world of Wonderland itself. The signified is her quest for knowledge. The signifier is her physical journey through wonderland, but signified is her search for understanding. Another example is the signifier of the white rabbit. The rabbit signifies a figment of her imagination. While the thing that is signified by the rabbit is her curious nature as whole. In the Wizard of Oz, a signifier is the ruby slippers. They symbolize magic, and what’s signified by them is Dorothy’s potential power. “She has it, she just doesn’t know how to use it yet, which is really why Glinda sends her off to see the Wizard. Only after all of her adventures, and the attendant self-reliance that comes with taking out two wicked witches single-handedly, can she tap into that power and use it to get what she want” (Shmoop). In the move Big Fish, the fish is another great example of signified and signifier. The signifier is the fish, representing Edward himself, while the signified is his life and
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In part two the book is about the view of American Sign Language and the way people have naturally created grammar and the arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences in a language from basically nothing. He demonstrates that this languag...
The model of semiosis allows us the investigation of the ¡¥sign¡¦: music, in its structure, in its act and its functionality which means communication and signification. Thus we can identify ¡¥the music-sign¡¦ through the expression of the sense¡Xthe sense that "is conceived as an evidence, as the feeling of comprehension, in a very natural way" (1)¡Xand through the significance. Thus, our guidance implies ¡¥sign¡¦, ¡¥expression¡¦, ¡¥signification¡¦¡Xthe triad that brings together the coordinates of semiosis; defined, it, by Charles S.Peirce through the cooperation of the sign, its object and its interpretant (2) and by U.Eco: "the process through which the empirical individuals communicate and the processes of communication become possible thanks to the systems of significance" (3). This semiosis is put in evidence by different semio...