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English 306A; Harris
Signification
IndexicalityIconicity
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.
English 306A; Harris
Index-to-icon-to-symbolmigration theories
Bow-wow-pooh-pooh-yo-he-hotheories
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English 306A; Harris
Semiotic triangle
form entity
conceptindexicalityiconicity
symbolicity
English 306A; Harris
Semiotic triangle (symbol)
“dog”
yappy, hairyquaduped
English 306A; Harris
Semiotic triangle (symbol)
“dog”
Signifier
The (evoked) world
yappy, hairyquaduped
Signified
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English 306A; Harris
Semiotic triangle (index)
Signified
Signifier
The (evoked) world
yappy, hairyquaduped
English 306A; Harris
Semiotic triangle (icon)
Signifier
The (evoked) world
yappy, hairyquaduped
Signified
English 306A; Harris
Semiotic triangle (word)
“dog”
Sense,Intension
Reference,Extension
Sign(narrow sense)
yappy, hairyquaduped
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English 306A; Harris
Semiotic triangle (word)
“dog”
Semasiology
Onomasiology
The (evoked) world
yappy, hairyquaduped
English 306A; Harris
Metaphor and metonymy
Indirect representationSomething (called the vehicle) carries the primary signification for somethingelse (tenor) that ordinarily holds that signification.
Metaphor is iconicThe vehicle/tenor relationship is an asserted resemblance: the tenor is saidto be like the vehicle in some way.
Metonymy is indexicalThe vehicle/tenor relationship is (not exactly necessary but) drawn from thesame habitat: the tenor is related to the vehicle in some way.
English 306A; Harris
Homer is a pigVehicle Tenor
“Homer”“Pig”
Porcine farmanimal
Simpsonspater familias
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English 306A; Harris
Metaphor and metonymy
Indirect representationSomething (called the vehicle) carries the primary signification for somethingelse (tenor) that ordinarily holds that signification.
Metaphor is iconicThe vehicle/tenor relationship is an asserted resemblance: the tenor is saidto be like the vehicle in some way.
Metonymy is indexicalThe vehicle/tenor relationship is (not exactly necessary but) drawn from thesame habitat: the tenor is related to the vehicle in some way.
English 306A; Harris
Metonymy, metaphor
to go tyson to go ballisticMetaphorMetonymy
English 306A; Harris
Metonymy—The principle of set membership
One element of a set or a relationship (thevehicle) singled out to represent otherelement(s) (the tenor)• Buffalo wins in OT!• Hollywood loves westerns.• All hands on deck.• Thirty head of cattle.
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English 306A; Harris
Metaphor—The principle of comparison
One element (the vehicle) represents anotherelement (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.
English 306A; Harris
Metonym
Attributes are picked out (treated indexically)to represent something associated with thoseattributes. Like a mascot.
Dancin’Homer
English 306A; Harris
Metaphor
Attributes are invoked, by way (iconically) ofresemblance.
Homer is a pig.• Eats a lot• Noisy• Not very clean.•
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English 306A; Harris
“Pussy”
English 306A; Harris
“Pussy”
English 306A; Harris
“Pussy”
Metaphor• Tenor = vagina• Vehicle = felus domesticus• Attributes
• Warm• Furry•
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English 306A; Harris
“Pussy!” Stage 1
Metonymy• Tenor = woman• Vehicle = vagina/pussy
The ultimate devaluing ofa (category of a) person:to a small anatomicalcomponent.
!
English 306A; Harris
“Pussy!” Stage 2
Metaphor• Tenor = the insult target• Vehicle = woman (not vagina)• Attributes
• Weak• Soft• Quitter
• Means ‘Opposite of a man’,but in a wholly evaluative way.
=
English 306A; Harris
“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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English 306A; Harris
“Pussy”
English 306A; Harris
“Pussy”
Metaphor• Tenor = the insult target• Vehicle = a particular type of woman
(still not vagina)• Attributes
• Weak• Soft• Quitter
• Means ‘the sort of woman that gives allof us a bad name for being weak, soft,quitters’ (?); in a wholly evaluativeway.
• Embeds “male” values
=
English 306A; Harris
“Dick!” Metonymy ⇒ Metaphor
Anatomical label
Tenor: penis
Vehicle: Famouslyendowed mannamed 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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English 306A; Harris
We now return you to regularprogramming
F
English 306A; Harris
Indexicality
Defined by associationThere is a connection ofsome sort (necessary orconventional) between thevehicle and the tenor.
English 306A; Harris
Indexicality
EgocentricitySpeaker-oriented• Deixis (pointing words)
AnthropocentrismHuman-oriented• Inherent orientation
(human-body orientationprojected to objects)
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English 306A; Harris
IndexicalityDeixis
Gk. deiktos ≈ “to show”• Pointing words
Work by ‘gesturingoutward’ from speaker,from the EGO, to otherobjects
English 306A; Harris
IndexicalityDeixis
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, …)
English 306A; Harris
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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English 306A; Harris
Indexical orientation — Deictic centreLexical 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 personplural (they, them, …)
English 306A; Harris
Indexical orientation — Deictic centreExpressive egocentricity
The speaker (or, in a rhetorical extention, the hearer)as the (default) reference point for everything else.
The squirrel isbehind the
tree.
English 306A; Harris
Indexical orientation — Deictic centreExpressive egocentricity
The speaker (or, in a rhetorical extention, the hearer)as the (default) reference point for everything else.
The squirrel isin front of the
tree.
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English 306A; Harris
IndexicalityAnthropocentricity
Gk. anthropos ≈ “man”(hu)man-centred
Inherent orientation: humanorientation projected ontoartefacts and entities)• front, back• left, right• before, behind
English 306A; Harris
Deictic (egocentric) vs. Inherent(anthropocentric) Orientation
English 306A; Harris
Iconicity
Defined by resemblance
Sequential order“Don’t drink and drive”
DistanceImmediacy of action
QuantityReduplication
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English 306A; Harris
IconicityPrinciple of sequential order
Unless marked, the orderof words (by default)mirrors the order ofevents.• He kicked sand in my face
and I got mad.• I got mad and he kicked sand
in my face.
English 306A; Harris
IconicityPrinciple of distance
Linguistic distance tendsto mirror conceptualdistance.• She squeezed me.• She gave me a squeeze.• She gave a squeeze to me.
English 306A; Harris
IconicityPrinciple of quantity
Length of utterance correlateswith (speaker’s perception of)quantity of concept.
• Dinosaurs lived a l o o o n gtime ago.
• Dinosaurs lived a long, long,long, … time ago.
• Lawyerese.• Political speeches.
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English 306A; Harris
Iconicity — Principle of quantityReduplication
Japanesehito 'person'hitobito ’group of people'kami 'god'kamigami ’group of gods'
Mandarinxiao 'small'xiaoxiao 'very small'gaoxing 'happy'gaogaoxingxing 'very happy'
English 306A; Harris
Iconicity — Principle of quantityReduplication
/ ma¯a ma¯a / = all sorts of mangoes/ma¯a/ = mango
/anak anak/ = all sorts of children/anak/ = child
/ ora¯ ora¯/ = all sorts of men/ora¯/ = man
English 306A; Harris
Iconicity — Principle of quantityConceptual Reduplication
Trinidad and Tobago[jEswij]
• emphatic confirmation,agreement; interjectiveintensifier
Children at Play, Romeo Downerhttp://caribbeanartist.com/
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English 306A; Harris
Iconicity — Principle of quantityConceptual Reduplication
Trinidad and Tobago[jEswij]
• emphatic confirmation,agreement; interjectiveintensifier
• yes-we?
Children at Play, Romeo Downerhttp://caribbeanartist.com/
English 306A; Harris
Iconicity — Principle of quantityConceptual Reduplication
Trinidad and Tobago[jEswij]
• emphatic confirmation,agreement; interjectiveintensifier
• yes-we?• yes-whee?
Children at Play, Romeo Downerhttp://caribbeanartist.com/
English 306A; Harris
Iconicity — Principle of quantityConceptual Reduplication
Trinidad and Tobago[jEswij]
• emphatic confirmation,agreement; interjectiveintensifier
• yes-we?• yes-whee?• yes-oui!
Children at Play, Romeo Downerhttp://caribbeanartist.com/
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English 306A; Harris
Any questions?
Modes of significationSemiotic triangleSymbolicity (arbitrariness, convention, learning)Indexicality (relation of necessity)• Egocentricity (deixis)• Anthropocentricity (inherent orientation)
Iconicity (relation of resemblance)• Sequential order• Distance• Quantity