Understanding Linguistic Signs: Structure, Features, and Types
Understanding Signs in Communication
Signs are elements of communication that represent another entity. For example, a flag represents a specific nation. A sign serves a threefold function: to represent or take the place of something, to reveal and publicize, and the reality represented, revealed, and known through the sign is its meaning. We can therefore say that there is no sign without meaning, nor meaning to refer to without a sign that expresses it.
The Linguistic Sign: Components and Definition
The linguistic sign is an indissoluble unit, consisting of a signifier and a signified (or concept). Both components are interdependent.
- Example of Signifier: The sequence of sounds /m/ + /e/ + /s/ + /a/ (for “mesa”).
- Example of Signified: The concept or definition of “table.”
The signifier can vary across languages, but the underlying meaning often remains consistent. For instance, the concept of a ‘window’ is expressed as ‘ventana’ in Spanish and ‘window’ in English.
Key Features of the Linguistic Sign
Solidarity
The signifier and signified are intrinsically linked and need each other; one cannot exist without the other.
Arbitrariness
The relationship between the signifier and the signified is unmotivated and conventional, established by agreement among speakers. A speaker cannot arbitrarily reverse the linguistic sign at their whim. Changes in a sign, affecting both its phonic (signifier) and semantic (signified) aspects, are due to historical developments. This essential relationship means there is no meaning without its corresponding signifier.
Double Articulation
The linguistic sign is doubly articulated, meaning it can be broken down into two levels:
First Level (First Articulation)
The linguistic sign can be decomposed into smaller meaningful units. These are called morphemes (the minimum linguistic units endowed with meaning). For example, ‘sun’ is a word composed of a single free morpheme. ‘Walk-ed’ is a compound of two morphemes: one lexical (the lexeme ‘walk’, carrying the core meaning defined in a dictionary) and one grammatical (the morpheme ‘-ed’, indicating grammatical meaning like past tense, which modifies the lexeme’s meaning).
Second Level (Second Articulation)
The sign is divided into smaller, meaningless units that are distinctive, as they differentiate one morpheme from another (e.g., ‘pass’, ‘leg’, ‘shovel’). These are called phonemes (non-meaningful units, as they have a significant or acoustic image, but no meaning by themselves. Example: /p/).
Linearity
Linguistic signs appear sequentially, forming a chain (a spoken chain) to create messages. This implies the succession of one sign after another in time (for speech) and space (for writing).
Discreteness
The linguistic sign is radically opposed to others, emphatically distinct. For example, ‘dawn’ is distinct from ‘tomorrow’.
Oral Primacy
The linguistic sign is primarily oral. The written form is a representation of the oral linguistic sign.
Linguistic Relationships: Syntagmatic and Paradigmatic
Syntagmatic Relations
These are the relationships of meaning that each linguistic sign has with other signs within a sentence. For example, one cannot say: “She is continually office…”
Paradigmatic Relations
These are the relationships of meaning between signs of the same category that can appear in the same context. Paradigmatic relationships are vertical relationships, while syntagmatic relations are horizontal.
Types of Signs: Symbol, Index, and Icon
Symbol
The relationship between the signifier and the signified is unmotivated and conventional, established by society. This relationship is not natural, unlike in an index. Every symbol is a sign, but not every sign is a symbol.
Index
An index is a sign that works by contiguity or immediacy between two elements. The relationship between the signifier and the signified is natural; for example, fever is an index of infection.
Icon
An icon is a sign in which an intentional resemblance relationship exists with the referent. Or, a sign which presents significant, intentional similarity with the represented referent. For example, the king’s face on a postage stamp or a caricature.