Sign (linguistics) | Article about Sign (linguistics) by The Free Dictionary
https://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Sign+(linguistics)
Printer Friendly
Dictionary, Encyclopedia and Thesaurus - The Free Dictionary 12,603,062,657 visitors served
Search / Page tools
?
Keyboard
  • A
  • A
  • A
  • A
Language:
Share on Facebook Twitter
Get our app
Flashcards ?
My bookmarks ?
+ Add current page to bookmarks
9
Register Log in
Sign up with one click:
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Google
Share on Facebook
Get
our app
  • Dictionary
  • Thesaurus
  • Medical
    Dictionary
  • Legal
    Dictionary
  • Financial
    Dictionary
  • Acronyms
  • Idioms
  • Encyclopedia
  • Wikipedia
    Encyclopedia
Tools
  • A
  • A
  • A
  • A
Language:
Mobile Apps:
  • apple
  • android
For surfers:
  • Free toolbar & extensions
  • Word of the Day
  • Help
For webmasters:
  • Free content
  • Linking
  • Lookup box
Close

Linguistic Sign

(redirected from Sign (linguistics))
Also found in: Wikipedia.
The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Sign, Linguistic

 

any unit of language (morpheme, word, phrase, or sentence) used to designate objects or phenomena of reality. Linguistic signs are bilateral; they consist of a signifier, made up of speech sounds (more precisely, phonemes), and a signified, created by the linguistic sign’s sense content. The relationship between the aspects of a sign is an arbitrary one, since the selection of a sound form does not usually depend on the properties of the designated object. The peculiarity of the linguistic sign is its asymmetricality, that is, the capacity of one signifier to convey various meanings (polysemy or homonymy) and the tendency of the signified to be expressed by various signifiers (heterophony or homosemy). The asymmetry of the structure of the linguistic sign determines the language’s capacity for development.

Linguistic signs are sometimes subdivided into complete and partial signs. A complete sign implies an utterance, usually a sentence, directly related to the designated situation (the referent or denotatum of the linguistic sign). A partial linguistic sign is a word or morpheme that is actualized only as part of a complete sign. The existence in a language of partial signs of various degrees of complexity, as well as the divisibility of the signifier and signified of the simplest sign into unilateral (nonsign) units of content (components of meaning) and expression (phonemes), ensure the economy of the linguistic system, permitting the creation of an infinitely large number of communications from a finite number of simple units.

REFERENCES

Saussure, F. de. Kurs obshchei lingvistiki. Moscow, 1933. (Translated from French.)
Kartsevskii, S. “Ob asimmetrichnom dualizme lingvisticheskogo znaka.” In V. A. Zvegintsev, Istoriia iazykoznaniia XIX-XX vekov v ocherkakh i izvlecheniiakh, part 2. Moscow, 1965.
lakobson, R. “V poiskakh sushchnosti iazyka.” In Sbornik perevodov po voprosam informalsionnoi teorii i praktiki, issue 16. Moscow, 1970.
Obshchee iazykoznanie, ch. 2. Moscow, 1970.
Materialy k konferentsii “lazyk kak znakovaia sistema osobogo roda.” Moscow, 1967.

N. A. ARUTIUNOVA

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.


Want to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us, add a link to this page, or visit the webmaster's page for free fun content.

Link to this page:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
Feedback
Flashcards & Bookmarks ?
Please log in or register to use Flashcards and Bookmarks. You can also log in with
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Google+
Flashcards ?
My bookmarks ?
+ Add current page to bookmarks
Mentioned in ?
  • Adstratum
  • Albert Sechehaye
  • Benveniste, Émile
  • Émile Benveniste
  • Expressive Function
  • False Etymology
  • Ferdinand de Saussure
  • Geneva School
  • language
  • linguistics
  • Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic RSFSR
  • Science and Scholarship
  • Sechehaye, Albert
  • semantics
  • sign
  • Sign, Linguistic
  • Signified
  • Signifier
  • signifier and signified
Encyclopedia browser ?
  • ▲
  • sigma pile
  • sigma ring
  • sigma-delta analog-to-digital converter
  • sigma-delta converter
  • sigma-delta digital-to-analog converter
  • sigma-delta modulator
  • sigma-minus hyperonic atom
  • sigmaspire
  • sigma-T
  • sigmatron
  • sigmatropic shift
  • SIGMET information
  • sigmoid
  • sigmoid colon
  • sigmoid distortion
  • sigmoidal dune
  • sigmoidal fold
  • sigmoiditis
  • sigmoidoscope
  • Sigmund Feist
  • Sigmund Freud
  • Sigmund Herberstein
  • Sigmund Jähn
  • Sigmund Romberg
  • sign
  • Sign (linguistics)
  • sign bit
  • sign check indicator
  • sign convention
  • sign digit
  • sign flag
  • sign language
  • sign of aggregation
  • Sign of the Cross
  • sign of the zodiac
  • sign position
  • sign stimulus
  • sign test
  • Sign Theory of Language
  • Sign, Linguistic
  • Signac
  • signage
  • Signakhi
  • signal
  • Signal Amplifier
  • signal area
  • signal area/square
  • signal bias
  • Signal Board
  • signal box
  • signal cable
  • ▼
Full browser ?
  • ▲
  • Sigmund froyd
  • Sigmund froyd
  • Sigmund froyd
  • Sigmund Frued
  • Sigmund Frued
  • Sigmund Frued
  • Sigmund Herberstein
  • Sigmund Jaehn
  • Sigmund Jaen
  • Sigmund Jahn
  • Sigmund Jähn
  • Sigmund Romberg
  • Sigmund Romberg
  • Sigmund Romberg
  • Sigmund Romberg
  • Sigmund Schlomo Freud
  • Sigmund Schlomo Freud
  • Sigmund Schlomo Freud
  • Sigmund von Wróblewski
  • Sigmund Weis School of Business
  • Sigmund Werner Paul Jähn
  • Sigmund Wilhelm List
  • Sigmundr
  • sign
  • sign
  • sign
  • sign
  • sign
  • sign
  • sign
  • Sign (linguistics)
  • sign (one's) life away
  • sign (one's) own death warrant
  • sign (oneself or someone) up
  • Sign (semeiotic)
  • Sign (semeiotic)
  • Sign (semiotics)
  • Sign (semiotics)
  • sign (someone's) death warrant
  • sign (something) away
  • sign (something) into law
  • sign (something) over
  • Sign and Forward System
  • Sign and Mac
  • Sign and magnitude
  • Sign and trade
  • Sign Association of Canada
  • sign away
  • sign away
  • sign away
  • sign away
  • sign away
  • sign away something
  • Sign bit
  • sign blindness
  • Sign Builders of America, Inc.
  • sign check indicator
  • Sign Constant Modulus Algorithm
  • Sign convention
  • sign death warrant
  • sign digit
  • ▼
  • Facebook Share
  • Twitter
CITE
Site: Follow:
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Rss
  • Mail
Share:
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Mail
Open / Close
More from Encyclopedia
Mobile Apps
  • Apple
  • Android
  • Kindle
  • Windows
  • Windows Phone
Free Tools
For surfers:
  • Free toolbar & extensions
  • Word of the Day
  • Word Finder
  • Help
For webmasters:
  • Free content
  • Linking
  • Lookup box
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy policy
  • Feedback
  • Advertise with Us
Copyright © 2003-2021 Farlex, Inc
Disclaimer

All content on this website, including dictionary, thesaurus, literature, geography, and other reference data is for informational purposes only. This information should not be considered complete, up to date, and is not intended to be used in place of a visit, consultation, or advice of a legal, medical, or any other professional.