Słowo i znak
Word and sign

Author(s): Andrzej Bogusławski
Subject(s): Theoretical Linguistics, Applied Linguistics, Philology
Published by: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: syntactics; combination of signs; non-linguistic signs; national body language; semiotics of culture; cultural studies; nonverbal semiotics; contemporary phraseology
Summary/Abstract: The author claims that the word sign is not idiomatically applicable to linguistic expressions (apart from certain technical terms such as diacritic signs). Therefore, in the framework of postulated natural language idiomaticity of terminology, the following interrelations are to be considered incorrect: 1. identity of range of ‘linguistic expressions’ and ‘signs’, 2. inclusion of the latter in the former, 3. inclusion of the former in the latter, 4. intersection of the former and the latter. The correct relationship between the former and the latter is that of disjunction. On the other hand, there is a kind of analytic entailment between signs as the antecedent and linguistic expressions as a consequent: this is the fact that any idiomatic sign unilaterally involves the use of some linguistic expressions whereby the sign is introduced without the reverse of it being valid. In this perspective, any attempt at finding a generalization covering signs and linguistic expressions as placed on an equal footing, especially when the role of “common denominator” is assigned to ‘sign’, leads to absurdities (in particular, to a destructive infinite regress). The author closes his article with a commentary on the history of views concerning“ signs” and their possible scopes as envisaged by different scholars.

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