Signification Modes of signification Bow-wow-pooh-pooh-yo-he-ho ...

Signification 

Indexicality 

Iconicity 

Symbolicity 

English 306A; Harris 

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. 


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

theories 

Index-to-icon-to-symbol 

migration theories 


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indexicality 

iconicity 

symbolicity 

Signifier 

Semiotic triangle 

concept 

form entity 


Semiotic triangle (symbol) 

“dog” 

yappy, hairy 

quaduped 


Semiotic triangle (symbol) 

“dog” 

yappy, hairy 

quaduped Signified 


The (evoked) 

world 

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Signifier 

Signifier 

Sign 

(narrow sense) 

Semiotic triangle (index) 

yappy, hairy 

quaduped 



Signified 

Semiotic triangle (icon) 

yappy, hairy 

quaduped Signified 

Semiotic triangle (word) 

“dog” 

yappy, hairy 

quaduped 


Sense, 

Intension 


world 


world 

Reference, 

Extension 

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Semasiology 

Semiotic triangle (word) 

“dog” 

yappy, hairy 

quaduped 


Onomasiology 

Metaphor and metonymy 



world 

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. 

“Pig” 

Homer is a pig 

Vehicle Tenor 

Porcine farm 

animal 

“Homer” 


Simpsons 

pater familias 

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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. 


Metonymy, metaphor 

to go tyson to go ballistic 

Metonymy 


Metaphor 

Metonymy— 

The 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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Metaphor— 

The 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. 


Metonym 

Attributes are picked out (treated indexically) 

to represent something associated with those 

attributes. Like a mascot. 

Dancin’ 

Homer 



Attributes are invoked, by way (iconically) of 

resemblance. 

Homer is a pig. 

• Eats a lot 

• Noisy 

• Not very clean. 

• 


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“Pussy” 


“Pussy” 


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“Pussy” 


“Pussy” 


“Pussy” 



• Tenor = vagina 

• Vehicle = felus domesticus 

• Attributes 

• Warm 

• Furry 

• 

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! 

= 

“Pussy!” Stage 1 


“Pussy!” Stage 2 


Metonymy 

• Tenor = woman 

• Vehicle = vagina/pussy 

The ultimate devaluing of 

a (category of a) person: 

to a small anatomical 

component. 


• Tenor = the insult target 

• Vehicle = woman (not vagina) 


• Weak 

• Soft 

• Quitter 

• Means ‘Opposite of a man’, 

but in a wholly evaluative way. 

“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” 


“Pussy” 



• Tenor = the insult target 

• Vehicle = a particular type of woman 

(still not vagina) 


• 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 

“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 


Indexicality 


Indexicality 


Defined by association 

There is a connection of 

some sort (necessary or 

conventional) between the 

vehicle and the tenor. 

Egocentricity 

Speaker-oriented 

• Deixis (pointing words) 

Anthropocentrism 

Human-oriented 

• Inherent orientation 

(human-body orientation 

projected to objects) 

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Indexicality 

Deixis 


Indexicality 

Deixis 


Gk. deiktos ≈ “to show” 

• Pointing words 

Work by ‘gesturing 

outward’ from speaker, 

from the EGO, to other 

objects 

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; 

speaker+others, 

hearer+others, …) 

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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Lexical egocentricity 


Pronouns 

• EGO = 1st person (I, me, …) 

• EGO+others = 1st person 

plural (we, us, …) 

• Hearer-of-EGO = 2nd person 

(you, your, …) 

• Hearer-of-EGO+others = 2nd 

person plural (you, your, …) 

• Not-EGO-and-not-hearer-of- 

EGO = 3rd person (he, she, 

it, …) 

• Not-EGO-and-not-hearer-of- 

EGO+others = 3rd person 

plural (they, them, …) 


Expressive egocentricity 

The speaker (or, in a rhetorical extention, the hearer) 

as the (default) reference point for everything else. 

The squirrel is 

behind the 

tree. 



Expressive 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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Indexicality 

Anthropocentricity 


Gk. anthropos ≈ “man” 

(hu)man-centred 

Inherent orientation: human 

orientation projected onto 

artefacts and entities) 

• front, back 

• left, right 

• before, behind 

Deictic (egocentric) vs. Inherent 

(anthropocentric) Orientation 


Iconicity 


Defined by resemblance 

Sequential order 

“Don’t drink and drive” 

Distance 

Immediacy of action 

Quantity 

Reduplication 

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Iconicity 

Principle 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. 

Iconicity 

Principle of distance 


Linguistic distance tends 

to mirror conceptual 

distance. 

• She squeezed me. 

• She gave me a squeeze. 

• She gave a squeeze to me. 

Iconicity 

Principle of quantity 


Length of utterance correlates 

with (speaker’s 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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ora¯/ = man 

/anak/ = child 

/ma¯a/ = mango 

Iconicity — Principle of quantity 

Reduplication 



Japanese 

hito 'person' 

hitobito ’group of people' 

kami 'god' 

kamigami ’group of gods' 

Mandarin 

xiao 'small' 

xiaoxiao 'very small' 

gaoxing 'happy' 

gaogaoxingxing 'very happy' 


Reduplication 

/ ora¯ ora¯/ = all sorts of men 

/anak anak/ = all sorts of children 

/ ma¯a ma¯a / = all sorts of mangoes 


Conceptual Reduplication 

Children at Play, Romeo Downer 

http://caribbeanartist.com/ 


Trinidad and Tobago 

[jEswij] 

• emphatic confirmation, 

agreement; interjective 

intensifier 

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[jEswij] 



intensifier 

• yes-we? 







[jEswij] 



intensifier 

• yes-we? 

• yes-whee? 







[jEswij] 



intensifier 

• yes-we? 

• yes-whee? 

• yes-oui! 

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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 


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Signification Modes of signification Bow-wow-pooh-pooh-yo-he-ho ...

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