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GLOSSARY
sense In some semiotic triangles, this refers to the sense made of
the sign (what Peirce called the interpretant). See also: interpretant,
meaning, semiotic triangle.
shifters Term adopted by Jakobson from Otto Jespersen for ‘indexical
symbols’ in language – grammatical units with an
indexical (deictic) character (such as personal pronouns) –
which can be decoded only by reference to the specific context
of particular messages.
sign A sign is a meaningful unit which is interpreted as ‘standing
for’ something other than itself. Signs are found in the physical
form of words, images, sounds, acts or objects (this
physical form is sometimes known as the sign vehicle). Signs
have no intrinsic meaning and become signs only when signusers
invest them with meaning with reference to a recognized
code. See also analogue signs, digital signs, functions of
signs, signification.
sign vehicle A term sometimes used to refer to the physical or
material form of the sign (e.g. words, images, sounds, acts or
objects). For some commentators this means the same as the
signifier (which for Saussure himself did not refer to material
form). The Peircean equivalent is the representamen: the form
which the sign takes, but even for Peirce this was not necessarily
a material form. See also medium, representamen,
signifier, tokens and types.
signans Latin term favoured by Jakobson for the signifier or perceptible
form of the sign (signum) – its ‘sound form’ in the case
of words. See also signatum, signifier, signum.
signatum In Jakobson’s dyadic model the signatum is the signified
or conceptual meaning of the sign; in language it refers to
linguistic meaning as distinct from the denotatum. See also
signans, signified, signum.
signification In Saussurean semiotics, the term signification refers
to the relationship between the signifier and the signified. It is
also variously used to refer to: the defining function of signs
(i.e. that they signify, or ‘stand for’, something other than themselves);
the process of signifying (semiosis); signs as part of