Signification

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Signification
Indexicality Iconicity Symbolicity
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Modes of signification

• Indexical
• A mode defined by necessity (especially cause and
  effect), or association. Prototypically, think
  fever.
• Iconic
• A mode defined by relationship of resemblance.
  Prototypically, think picture.
• Symbolic
• A mode defined by relationship of
  arbitrariness, convention, and learning.
  Prototypically, think word.

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Bow-wow-pooh-pooh-yo-he-ho theories

• Index-to-icon-to-symbol migration theories

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Semiotic triangle
concept
indexicality iconicity symbolicity
form
entity
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Semiotic triangle (symbol)
yappy, hairyquaduped
dog
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Semiotic triangle (symbol)
yappy, hairyquaduped
Signified
The (evoked) world
Signifier
dog
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Semiotic triangle (index)
yappy, hairyquaduped
Signified
The (evoked) world
Signifier
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Semiotic triangle (icon)
yappy, hairyquaduped
Signified
The (evoked) world
Signifier
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Semiotic triangle (word)
yappy, hairyquaduped
Sense, Intension
Reference, Extension
Sign (narrow sense)
dog
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Semiotic triangle (word)
yappy, hairyquaduped
Onomasiology
The (evoked) world
Semasiology
dog
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Metaphor and metonymy

• Indirect representation
• Something (called the vehicle) carries the
  primary signification for something else (tenor)
  that ordinarily holds that signification.
• Metaphor is iconic
• The vehicle/tenor relationship is an asserted
  resemblance the tenor is said to be like the
  vehicle in some way.
• Metonymy is indexical
• The vehicle/tenor relationship is (not exactly
  necessary but) drawn from the same habitat the
  tenor is related to the vehicle in some way.

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Homer is a pig
Vehicle
Tenor
Simpsonspater familias
Porcine farm animal
Homer
Pig
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Metaphor and metonymy

• Indirect representation
• Something (called the vehicle) carries the
  primary signification for something else (tenor)
  that ordinarily holds that signification.
• Metaphor is iconic
• The vehicle/tenor relationship is an asserted
  resemblance the tenor is said to be like the
  vehicle in some way.
• Metonymy is indexical
• The vehicle/tenor relationship is (not exactly
  necessary but) drawn from the same habitat the
  tenor is related to the vehicle in some way.

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Metonymy, metaphor
to go tyson
to go ballistic
Metaphor
Metonymy
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MetonymyThe principle of set membership

• One element of a set or a relationship (the
  vehicle) singled out to represent other
  element(s) (the tenor)
• Buffalo wins in OT!
• Hollywood loves westerns.
• All hands on deck.
• Thirty head of cattle.

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MetaphorThe principle of comparison

• One element (the vehicle) represents another
  element (the tenor), to which it is unrelated.
• Homer is a pig.
• My love is red, red rose.
• Toronto is toast.
• The table leg is broken.
• The orthopedic wing is closed.

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Metonym

• Attributes are picked out (treated indexically)
  to represent something associated with those
  attributes. Like a mascot.

Dancin Homer
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Metaphor

• Attributes are invoked, by way (iconically) of
  resemblance.
• Homer is a pig.
• Eats a lot
• Noisy
• Not very clean.

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(No Transcript)
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Pussy
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Pussy
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Pussy
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Pussy
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Pussy

• Metaphor
• Tenor vagina
• Vehicle felus domesticus
• Attributes
• Warm
• Furry

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Pussy! Stage 1
!

• Metonymy
• Tenor woman
• Vehicle vagina/pussy
• The ultimate devaluing of a (category of a)
  person to a small anatomical component.

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Pussy! Stage 2

• Metaphor
• Tenor the insult target
• Vehicle woman (not vagina)
• Attributes
• Weak
• Soft
• Quitter
• Means Opposite of a man, but in a wholly
  evaluative way.

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Pussy Metaphor ? Metonymy ? Metaphor

• Indexicality, Iconicity
• a relatively mundane example of ordinary language
  
• not a fancy literary or rhetorical device
• these processes, and figuration generally, are
  pervasive

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Pussy
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Pussy

• Metaphor
• Tenor the insult target
• Vehicle a particular type of woman (still not
  vagina)
• Attributes
• Weak
• Soft
• Quitter
• Means the sort of woman that gives all of us a
  bad name for being weak, soft, quitters (?) in
  a wholly evaluative way.
• Embeds male values

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Dick! Metonymy ? Metaphor
Anatomical label Tenor penis Vehicle Famously
endowed man named Dick (?) Cf. kleenex, sandwich,
goldfarb, Cf, willy, peter, johnson,

• Insult
• Tenor object of insult
• Vehicle penis
• Critical attributes
• Unthinking
• Self-serving
• Insensitive

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We now return you to regular programming
F
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Indexicality

• Defined by association
• There is a connection of some sort (necessary or
  conventional) between the vehicle and the tenor.

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Indexicality

• Egocentricity
• Speaker-oriented
• Deixis (pointing words)
• Anthropocentrism
• Human-oriented
• Inherent orientation (human-body orientation
  projected to objects)

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IndexicalityDeixis

• Gk. deiktos to show
• Pointing words
• Work by gesturing outward from speaker, from
  the EGO, to other objects

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IndexicalityDeixis

• Proximals (deictics
• Speaking location of EGO (this, that here,
  there )
• Speaking time of EGO (now, then today, tomorrow
  )
• Pronouns
• Pick out attributes relative to EGO (speaker,
  hearer, not-speaker-or-hearer speakerothers,
  hearerothers, )

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Indexical orientation Deictic centre Lexical
egocentricity

• Proximals (deictics)
• Speaking location
• Where-EGO-is here, near,
• Where-EGO-is-not there, far,
• Speaking time
• When-EGO-is now, today,
• When-EGO-is-not then, tomorrow,
• Relative location to speaker
• Close-to-EGO this, these,
• Not-close-to-EGO that, those, ..

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Indexical orientation Deictic centreLexical
egocentricity

• Pronouns
• EGO 1st person (I, me, )
• EGOothers 1st person plural (we, us, )
• Hearer-of-EGO 2nd person (you, your, )
• Hearer-of-EGOothers 2nd person plural (you,
  your, )
• Not-EGO-and-not-hearer-of-EGO 3rd person (he,
  she, it, )
• Not-EGO-and-not-hearer-of-EGOothers 3rd person
  plural (they, them, )

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Indexical orientation Deictic centreExpressive
egocentricity

• The speaker (or, in a rhetorical extention, the
  hearer) as the (default) reference point for
  everything else.

The squirrel is behind the tree.
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Indexical orientation Deictic centreExpressive
egocentricity

• The speaker (or, in a rhetorical extention, the
  hearer) as the (default) reference point for
  everything else.

The squirrel is in front of the tree.
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IndexicalityAnthropocentricity

• Gk. anthropos man
• (hu)man-centred
• Inherent orientation human orientation projected
  onto artefacts and entities)
• front, back
• left, right
• before, behind

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Deictic (egocentric) vs. Inherent
(anthropocentric) Orientation
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Iconicity

• Defined by resemblance
• Sequential order
• Dont drink and drive
• Distance
• Immediacy of action
• Quantity
• Reduplication

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IconicityPrinciple of sequential order

• Unless marked, the order of words (by default)
  mirrors the order of events.
• He kicked sand in my face and I got mad.
• I got mad and he kicked sand in my face.

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IconicityPrinciple of distance

• Linguistic distance tends to mirror conceptual
  distance.
• She squeezed me.
• She gave me a squeeze.
• She gave a squeeze to me.

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IconicityPrinciple of quantity

• Length of utterance correlates with (speakers
  perception of) quantity of concept.
• Dinosaurs lived a l o o o n g time ago.
• Dinosaurs lived a long, long, long, time ago.
• Lawyerese.
• Political speeches.

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Iconicity Principle of quantityReduplication

• Japanese
• hito 'person'
• hitobito group of people'
• kami 'god'
• kamigami group of gods'
• Mandarin
• xiao 'small'
• xiaoxiao 'very small'
• gaoxing 'happy'
• gaogaoxingxing 'very happy'

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Iconicity Principle of quantityReduplication
/ora/ man / ora ora/ all sorts of men
/anak/ child /anak anak/ all sorts of children
/maa/ mango / maa maa / all sorts of mangoes
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Iconicity Principle of quantityConceptual
Reduplication

• Trinidad and Tobago
• jEswij
• emphatic confirmation, agreement interjective
  intensifier

Children at Play, Romeo Downer http//caribbeanart
ist.com/
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Iconicity Principle of quantityConceptual
Reduplication

• Trinidad and Tobago
• jEswij
• emphatic confirmation, agreement interjective
  intensifier
• yes-we?

Children at Play, Romeo Downer http//caribbeanart
ist.com/
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Iconicity Principle of quantityConceptual
Reduplication

• Trinidad and Tobago
• jEswij
• emphatic confirmation, agreement interjective
  intensifier
• yes-we?
• yes-whee?

Children at Play, Romeo Downer http//caribbeanart
ist.com/
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Iconicity Principle of quantityConceptual
Reduplication

• Trinidad and Tobago
• jEswij
• emphatic confirmation, agreement interjective
  intensifier
• yes-we?
• yes-whee?
• yes-oui!

Children at Play, Romeo Downer http//caribbeanart
ist.com/
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Any questions?

• Modes of signification
• Semiotic triangle
• Symbolicity (arbitrariness, convention, learning)
• Indexicality (relation of necessity)
• Egocentricity (deixis)
• Anthropocentricity (inherent orientation)
• Iconicity (relation of resemblance)
• Sequential order
• Distance
• Quantity