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English Structures 3. Boy is the English word for a young male. How do you know it means a young male? Simply because you learned that it has this meaning. Does the combination of the letters look like the shape of a boy? No. Does the pronunciation of the word sound like the noise a boy makes? No. For these reasons, we can say that the word boy is not iconic in nature. It doesn't look or sound like its meaning. Is it an indexical or symptomatic sign? Does the word boy always coexist in time or place with a boy? That is, does it happen that someone says the word boy only when there is a young male present? No. This means that boy is not indexical in nature. What type of relationship is it? It's the type of relationship that Shakespeare was talking about. It's an arbitrary relationship. 2. Basket Is the meaning of this word connected to the word by an iconic relationship? No, the combination of letters to make the word doesn't resemble the shape of a basket, nor does the pronunciation of the word resemble the sound a basket makes. Is there an indexical relationship? Does a person only say the word basket when a basket is present? No, the relationship is not indexical. What type of relationship is this?
1. Meow Is the meaning of this word connected to the word by an iconic relationship? That is, does it look or sound like its meaning? Yes, meow is an iconic sign. All onomatopoetic words can be described as iconic signs.
Defining Language
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Understanding Signs One possible definition of language was presented in the last section: "Language is a system of arbitrary symbols that humans use to create meaningful communication with other users of the same language." In the next few sections, we'll look more closely at certain aspects of this definition, especially those parts of the definition that are the most abstract: arbitrary, symbolic, systematic, and creative. To do this,we will begin with the study of semiotics, which is the study of signs. Semiotics will help define symbols and the arbitrary nature of language. Once we see the arbitrary nature of language, we will also be able to see its creativity and its systematicity. In addition, understanding these aspects of language will later help us understand why the signs in language are different from the signs used in animal communication, and why language is something that it seems only humans use. Activity: Consider the following questions 1. What does 2. What does 3. What does bow-wow mean? How do you know? 4. If a student says, “My teacher shushed me in class today,” what happened to the student? How do you know? 5. Now think about the statement, "If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, it must be a duck." What does this statement mean, and how does it relate to the first four questions? Iconic Signs The statement "if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, it must be a duck" simply means that when something looks like or sounds like something else, it is probably the same as that other thing. This type of relationship, an imitation, is one way that signs are connected to their referents (or meanings). In fact, this is why people know the meanings of the sign for a telephone; the image looks like a phone receiver. It is also why we know the first picture means woman (and indicates a women's restroom, not a men's nor a restroom open to anyone.) It is also the way we know "bow-wow" refers to the noise a dog makes: it is pronounced very much like the noise itself. And it is how we know that "shushed" tells the sound the teacher used to quiet a noisy student. All of these examples are called iconic signs: they are all signs that imitate their referents. We know what they mean because they look and/or sound like their meanings; there isn't anything arbitrary about them. Activity: Consider the following questions 1. What does it mean when a person yawns? How do you know? 2. Look at this picture of Wingtip. What does he detect? How do you know?
3. Think about the statement, "Where there's smoke, there's fire." What does this statement mean, and how does it relate to the previous questions? Discussion - Lesson 1, Page 2, #2 Indexical and Symptomatic Signs All of these situations demonstrate a second type of relationship between a sign and its referent; a sign can point to something else. To do this, it must coexist in place or time with the other thing. A person yawns when he/she is tired. If a person isn't tired, there isn't a yawn. The yawn must coexist with the tired feeling in order to have meaning. Wingtip points at prey. If he doesn't see or smell something he thinks might be prey, he doesn't point like this. These kinds of signs that coexist with and point to their referents are called indexical or symptomatic signs. Indexical signs point to something outside of the sign sender (Wingtip's point), and symptomatic signs point to something within the sign sender (a person's yawn). Indexical signs are a partial or representative sample of a referent, i.e. “where there’s smoke, there’s fire.” Since a part exists, the whole exists. Indexical signs point to something other than themselves. Although smoke indicates fire and coexists with it, it isn’t actually the fire. It is representative of it. A symptomatic sign is a kind of indexical sign that is spontaneous and conveys the internal state or emotions of the sender. A symptomatic sign is beyond the control of the sender since it is spontaneous. Laughing, crying, shouting are symptomatic signs. Clearly, humans use symptomatic signs to communicate with each other, but do we call them parts of language?Activity: Consider the following questions 1. What does boy mean? How do you know? 2. What does basket mean? How do you know? 3. What did Shakespeare mean when he wrote "What's in a name? A rose by any other name would smell as sweet"? How does it relate to the previous two questions? Click on the links below to hear the words and then to read the explanation of the relationship of the word to its meaning. (Click on your browser "Back" button on arrow after listenting, click on pop-up window to close explanation.)
Symbolic Signs The third type of sign is a symbol. Symbols have arbitrary relationships to their referents. That is, there is no real reason why a sign is used to mean something; it's just what someone decided to do. Iconic signs have a very good reason to be connected to their referents: they look or sound like them. Indexical and symptomatic signs also have very good reasons to be connected to their referents: they coexist with them. That is, the sign is only there when the referent is there. Symbols, however, are different. A symbol is simply connected to its referent by choice. Language uses symbols. A word in language does not necessarily imitate (look like or sound like) the thing it refers to, nor does a person only say a word if the thing it refers to happens to be right there. We can talk about people and things even when they aren't present. This is what is meant when we say that langauge is symbolic in nature. Even though we have a few onomatopoetic words that are iconic, by far the most frequent relationship between a word and its meaning is one of arbitrariness, making the word a symbol of its referent. "I know you believe you understand what you think I said, but I am not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant."
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mean? How do you know? 
mean? How do you know?