Semiotics and Pragmatics by Anmar Ahmed

Semiotics
Semiotics is the study of signs and their meanings! Signs include words, gestures,
images, sounds, and objects. According to Ferdinand de Saussure, a founder of
modern semiotics , sign consists of two parts:
1 - the signifier (the form which the sign takes)
2- the signified (the concept represents). For example, an everyday example is a stop
sign. In this example, the physical sign is the signifier. The concept of stopping is the
signified.

The Major Divisions of Semiotics

Pragmatics is one of the three major divisions of semiotics (along with semantics and
syntactics) . Morris postulated that linguistic signs sustain three types of relations (to
other signs of the language, to objects that are signified, to persons by whom they are
used and understood), and that this defines three dimensions of sign meaning as
studied by semiotics. These dimensions in turn are objects of investigation by
syntactics, semantics and pragmatics . So there are three branches of semiotics :
1 -Semantics : Relation between signs and the things to which they refer; their
denotata
2 - Syntactics : Relations among signs in formal structures
3 - Pragmatics : Relation between signs and their effects on those people who use
them.

Aristotle Semiotic Theory

The horizon of the theory was just mentally oriented because the sign of the object is
interpreted directly in the mind , without any consideration to the psychological and
social circumstances . The mind examines signs in this way because of the objects and
their properties and the uttered words represented the objects and their properties in
the form of thoughts and concepts .

Locke And Kant's Semiotic Theory

The present-day pragmatics which is itself a mixture of four ingredients: pragmatics
as speech act theory (Anglo-American in origin), as theory of enunciation (French), as
universal pragmatics (German), and as part of semiotics (Anglo-American in origin).
The main origin of semiotics are Kant and Locke's semiotic theory and Pierce's
theory:
1 – Kant's provided the transcendental semiotics which emphasized the power of
language as a conditioning agent in sensibility, perception, understanding, and reason
in general .
2 - Locke’s semiosis philosophy can be regarded as the source from which all four
pragmatic currents of thought flow :
A - The French one, which continued Locke’s thinking in the philosophies of
language proposed by Condillac and the Ideologues
B - The German one, where scholars used Locke and British empiricism to criticize
Kant’s a-linguistic philosophy on the one hand, and which went, with the help of Kant
and Fichte, beyond Locke’s ‘telementational’ model of communication on the other
C - The English one, in which Locke was subverted in the name of commonsense and
contextualism .
D - Finally American pragmatism, which continued to some extent Locke’s semiotics
and the common-sense philosophy and utilitarianism of his followers.
Locke's empirical semiotic theory was built upon :
1 – Language as a mean of force and manner depending on the signification of words
2 - Ideas, derived from experience, and themselves signs of things, are in turn
represented by words as signs of ideas. This representation is necessary because
otherwise we would not be able to communicate our thoughts .
3 - Words are arbitrary, voluntary and private signs for ideas :
A - The word is an arbitrary sign of the idea it stands for. That is, it is associated with
the idea according to the arbitrary decision, will and intention of the speaker .
B - The act of uttering a word as a vocal sign or name of a given idea is an act of the
individual speaker’s will. Words are voluntary signs of ideas. Hence a ‘‘word has
meaning only in the context of an act of meaning .
C - Words, in their primary or immediate Signification, stand for nothing but the Ideas
in the Mind of him that uses them . That then which Words are the Marks of are the
Ideas of the speaker.
So according to Locke words are signs for the individual and the society . He made a
terminology to make a connection between the meaning of the individual sign and its
meaning according to the society . How can words be used perfectly in the social
context :
A . Use no word without knowing what idea you make it stand for.
B . Make sure your ideas are clear, distinct, and determinate; and if they are ideas of
substances, they should be conformable to real things.
C. Where possible, follow common usage, especially that of those writers whose
discourses appear to have the clearest notions.
D. Where possible, declare the meanings of your words (in particular, define them).
E . Do not vary the meanings you give to words.

The Contextual Semiotics

The basis of this theory are emerged in the ideas of Pierce , William James , George H
Mead and John Dewey . They rejected the Aristotelian abstractness of semiotics .
They viewed that sign cannot be just a bare contemplation of the world without any
consideration to the experience , and social circumstances . Pierce viewed that the
interpretation of the sign is not a result of immediate physiological reaction , but as a
result of a settled or regular practice or tendency or what he called the habit . Pierce 's
semiotic theory or what he called the sign's theory emphasized the pragmatic side of
the object . Its theory depends on the communicative value of the context . The sign
for him , may be a word , written or utterance acting as a context of a clear message .
He defined the sign as anything which is so determined by something else, called its
Object, and so determines an effect upon a person, which effect he called its
interpretant, that the later is thereby mediately determined by the former. So he made
a connection between pragmatics and sign theory through :
A - The sign cannot be fully interpreted without its three inter-related parts , a sign ,
an object and an interpretant . The context involves three dimensions the word , the
reference of the word or its object and the interpretation .
B - The object, on the other hand, is best thought of as whatever is signified, for
example, the object to which the written or uttered word attaches, or the fire signified
by the smoke.
C - The interpretant, the most innovative and distinctive feature of Peirce's account, is
best thought of as the understanding that we have of the sign/object relation. The
importance of the interpretant for Peirce is that signification is not a simple dyadic
relationship between sign and object: a sign signifies only in being interpreted.
William James stressed that the sign is represented functionally through certain
perceptual data . Such "mental" functioning is a highly selective process in which the
organism gets indications as to how to act with reference to the world in order to
satisfy its needs or interests . The context here is a mixture between the mind and the
world . George H. Mead and John Dewey especially concerned with the behavior
involved in the functioning of linguistic signs and with the social context in which
such signs arise and function.

Charles Morris Semiotic ( The Science Of Signs )

He viewed that language is a social system of signs . Morris explains that language
may be governed by syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic rules. Syntactic rules may
determine the combinations of signs that function as grammatical statements.
Semantic rules may determine the conditions under which signs signify objects or
events. Pragmatic rules may determine the conditions under which sign vehicles
function as signs. This social dimension of signs can be viewed according to Morris
in the following principles :
1 - Language is a system of signs that produce dispositions to social behavior.
2 - In order to understand the uses and effects of signs, we must understand the ways
in which signs influence social behavior .
Morris explains that the four components of semiosis include:
1 - The "sign vehicle" (the object or event which functions as a sign),
2 - The "designatum" (the kind of object or class of objects that the sign designates),
3 - The "interpretant" (the disposition of an interpreter to initiate a response sequence
as a result of perceiving the sign),
4 - The "interpreter" (the person for whom the sign vehicle functions as a sign).
There may be several ways of classifying signs according to their syntactic,
semantic, and pragmatic uses. For example, signs may be divided into three kinds,
according to the range of objects that they denote :
1 - Each "indexical sign" denotes a single actually existing object,
2 - each "characterizing sign" denotes a plurality of actually existing objects, and
3 -each "universal sign" denotes all actually existing objects.
Signs may also be divided into two kinds, according to whether they demonstrate the
properties of their denotata:
1 - "iconic signs" demonstrate the properties of their denotata,
2 - but "non-iconic signs" do not
He did not use meaning to analyze the sign but he used the term modes . The modes
of signifying of a sign may be (1) identificative, (2) designative, (3) appraisive, (4)
prescriptive, or (5) formative. The kinds of signs that correspond to these modes of
signifying may be called (1) identifiors, (2) designators, (3) appraisors, (4)
prescriptors, and (5) formators.
1- Identifiors are signs that signify locata (the location of objects in space or time).
2 - Designators are signs that signify discriminata (characteristics or stimulus
properties of objects).
3 - Appraisors are signs that signify valuata (preferred objects or situations).
4 - Prescriptors are signs that signify obligata (responses that are required of the
interpreter).
5 - Formators are signs that signify formata (methods by which signs may be
combined to form compound signs).
The four primary usages of signs are: (1) "informative," (2) "valuative," (3)
"incitive," and (4) "systemic" Designators have primarily informative functions,
appraisors have primarily valuative functions, prescriptors have primarily incitive
functions, and formators have primarily systemic functions.
Morris provided a classification of the major types of discourse, according to their
primary mode of signifying and their primary usage of signs. The table illustrates that
each of the four primary modes of signifying may be paired with each of the four
primary uses of signs, to yield sixteen types of discourse. These types may be
described as follows:
1 - "scientific" discourse may be primarily designative in mode and informative in use
2 - "fictive" discourse may be primarily designative in mode and valuative in use .
3 - "legal" discourse may be primarily designative in mode and incitive in use .
4 -"cosmological" discourse may be primarily designative in mode and systemic in
use .
5 -"mythical" discourse may be primarily appreciate in mode and informative in use .
6 -"poetic" discourse may be primarily appreciate in mode and valuative in use .
7-"moral" discourse may be primarily appreciate in mode and incitive in use .
8 - ‘critical’ discourse may be primarily appreciate in mode and systemic in use .
9 -"technological" discourse may be primarily prescriptive in mode and informative in
use .
10 - "political" discourse may be primarily prescriptive in mode and valuative in use .
11 - "religious" discourse may be primarily prescriptive in mode and incitive in use .
12 - "propagandistic" discourse may be primarily prescriptive in mode and systemic
in use .
13 - "logico-mathematical" discourse may be primarily formative in mode and
informative in use .
14 - "rhetorical" discourse may be primarily formative in mode and valuative in use .
15 - "grammatical" discourse may be primarily formative in mode and incitive in
use .
16 - "metaphysical" discourse may be primarily formative in mode and systemic in
use.
The adequacy of signs, says Morris, may be divided into four kinds, according to the
purposes for which signs are used:
1 - Informative adequacy may be described as "convincingness,"
2 - Valuative adequacy may be described as "effectiveness,"
3 - Incitive adequacy may be described as "persuasiveness,"
4 - systemic adequacy may be described as "correctness."
Langer's Theory of Symbols
He prefers the concept of symbol to sign . He asserts that symbolism underlies all
human knowing and understanding . He builds his theory on two main principles that:
1 – There are key relationship consists of symbol , object and person
2 – Symbols become meaningful in the conversation
For his these symbols can be divided into two types :
1 - Discursive Symbolism - language based thought and meaning
2 -Non- discursive Symbolism - Non-verbal based emotion and meaning; art, music,
dance etc
Meanings can be found in both non-discursive and discursive symbolism . He also
views that :
1 - Every sign has meaning and the contingency for other diverse meanings.
2 - Multiple meanings are socially and culturally relative (subjective). In other words
our social and cultural backgrounds influence these meanings.
3 - Signs have both denotative and connotative meanings.

Areas Of Common Interest Both For Semiotics And Pragmatics

There are many concepts in semiotics clarify a relevant relation to pragmatics :
1 – The semiosic plane means that the message is oriented to the semiosic process . It
refers to the social process by which meaning is constructed and exchanged .
2 – The mimetic plane means that the message is about something , which supposedly
exists outside itself . It is connected to a world which it refers in some way , and its
meaning derives from this representative or mimetic function it performs .
3 – The text means an extended semiotic sense to refer to a structure or message
traces which has a socially ascribed unity .
4 – Discourse is the site where social forms of organization engage with systems of
signs in the production of texts , thus reproducing or changing the sets of meanings
and values which make up a culture . For social semiotics , the two terms text and
discourse represent complementary perspectives on the same level of phenomenon .
5 – Participants in semiosis typically transmit a great profusion of messages in a
number of codes about the status of the exchange and their own and others' role .
 References
Morris , C , W . ( 1938 ) . Foundations of Theory of Signs . Illinois : The University of
Chicago Press
Hodge , R & Kress , G . ( 1988 ) . Social Semiotics . New York : Cornell University
Press
Nerligh , B & Clarke , D . ( 1996 ) . Language , Action and Context . Amsterdam :
John Benjamins Publishing Company
Horn , L & Ward , G . ( 2006 ) . The Handbook of Pragmatics . London : Blackwell
Publishing .