WWW/Internet - Portal do Software Público Brasileiro

ISBN: 978-972-8939-25-0 © 2010 IADIS3. SIGNS AND ITS STRUCTURE: A BRIEF REVIEWSigns, as discussed in the field of Semiotics, are twofold entities, according to (Saussure, 1945), composedby a signified and a signifier represented as two layers. As stated in (Barthes, 1975), signified can be thoughtas the content layer and the signifier as the expression layer. A further unfolding of these layers was proposedby (Hjelmslev, 1974) into two sub layers of form and substance. Table 1 schematically shows the structure ofsigns, as discussed.For instance, let us take the sign Mountain: (a) its signifier is the string chain [m,o,u,n,t,a,i,n], (b) itssignified (the mental image of a mountain). The form of expression is given by the phonetic, orthographicrules to compose the sounds or the characters. The substance of expression is the elements used to compose(the text font family or the sound waves that are emitted). From the content layer side, the form of contentsublayer is the formal organization of signifiers and the substance of content is the emotional or ideologicalaspects, (‘that mountain I have climbed on the last week-end walk’.)Signifier (Expression)Table 1. Structure of Sign according to Saussure and Hejlmslev[Adapted from (Chandler, 2001) and (May, 2007)]SubstancePhysical Materials or the medium (words,sound recorded, words printed)FormLanguage, formal syntactic structure,technique and styleSignified (Content)Emotions, Ideological aspects, specificinformation content‘Semantic structure’, ‘Thematic structure’,Conceptual Structures, ontologiesPeirce (1955) represented signs as a triadic relation instead of dyadic representation of Saussure. In hismodel, the form which the sign takes is defined as the representamen; the interpretant is the sense made bythe sign and, the object is the substantial aspect of sign. It must be remarked that the representamen is itself asign, so, as stressed by (Eco, 1976), a sign is interpreted by means of other signs, in an unending recursiveprocess, defined as semeiosis (Peirce, 1955). This structure is represented in Figure 2.Figure 2. Sign components according to Peirce and its interaction (Semeiosis)A further aspect to be noted is that there are different kinds of signs. Iconic signs ‘stands for an object byresembling or imitating’ (Yeh, 2004) while the index ‘refers to the effect produced by the object’ and thesymbol, which refers to object as the ‘virtue of law, convention or rule’. These signs are combined to expressand form a discourse.Signs composition according to Structural Linguistics occurs in a plane defined by two dimensions. Thesyntagmatic dimension is composed by syntagmas, or the string of words that compose a larger unit in thespeech or in a sentence (Saussure, 1945). The syntagma gets its value as opposed to its predecessor orsuccessor. The second dimension is the paradigmatic one, referred to the associative fields whosedetermination can be, in linguistic context, by sound affinity (materialization/conceptualization) or by sense(education/learning). The speaker chooses from his/her repertory the sign he/she must use to convey theintended message.30