LINGUISTIC SIGN

all lexemes are S I G N S

they have form and meaning (week 2)
the theory of signs is called semiology
Ferdinand de Saussure (week 3) distinguished a concept and an acoustic image:
components of mental nature associated in the brain
both components are mutually conditioned
the acoustic image not conceived as a mere physical sound, but rather its trace, or
reflection, in our brain
the concept more abstract
the acoustic image = signifiant (i.e. signifying component, the thing that signifies),
the concept = signifi (i.e. the signified component) of the sign.

Saussures characteristics of linguistic sign:

arbitrary
conventional
obligatory
linear

Picture 1 Linguistic Sign

signified = the concept (signifi)

signifier = the sound image (signifiant)

SEMIOTIC TRIANGLE
Ogden and Richards
(The Meaning of the Meaning,1923).

Picture 2

Semiotic Triangle1

Picture 2 demonstrates abstract relationships between the tops of the triangle (i.e.
designation, denotation, and signification).

Picture taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triangle_of_reference, but originally it was in Ogden &

Richards(1923:11)

Semiotic triangle applied in practice (example of gull) can be seen in picture 3:

Picture 3 Semiotic Triangle Applied2

The linguistic sign is not represented in isolation; it enters into relations with the referent
(extralinguistic objec), with other linguistic signs, and with the users of signs. Based on such
an approach it is possible to distinguish the following relationships within a complex semiotic
model (acc. to Ondru Sabol, 1981 and tekauer, 1993):
1) the relationship of designation between the referent and the concept,
2) the relationship of denotation between the sign form (designator) and the referent,
3) the relationship of signification between the sign form and the concept,
4) the relationship between language users and the sign form pragmatics
(connotations stylistic, expressive, geographic),
5) the relationship between the sign form and other sign forms:
a) paradigmatic relations and b) syntagmatic relations.

Taken from http://revues.unilim.fr/nas/document.php?id=3280

COMPOTENTIAL ANALYSIS (also known as lexical decomposition)

bachelor can be therefore analysed as:
bachelor

noun

human
animal

male (young fur seal when without a mate

during the breeding time)

male who has the first/lowest academic degree

who has never married young knight serving under the standard of another knight

the abstract constituents or features that are more or less universal:

ABSTRACT, ACTION, SUBSTANCE, QUALITY, HUMAN,
ANIMATE, MALE, NON-ADULT, COMMON, COUNTABLE, etc.

each universal seme enters widely different meanings:

the seme MAGNUM (covering much and high degree) found in collocations:
bad mistake (hrub chyba)
iron discipline (elezn disciplna)
deathly silence (hrobov ticho)
utter nonsense (pln nezmysel)
sound sleep (tvrd spnok).

SEMANTIC FIELDS
red blue yellow green purple,
relations in the colour spectrum, which in turn can be compared with the colour words
of other languages
no precise equivalent of blue in Russian, which has two terms, goluboy and siniy,
usually translated as light blue and dark blue, in Russian treated as distinct
colours and not shades of one colour
semantic field = a group, pattern, or framework of related words and word
elements that covers or refers to an aspect of the world, such as colour words,
culinary words, military ranks, and the usage of sport.