Sign and the lambda-term
Kumiko Tanaka‐Ishii, Yuichiro Ishii · Semiotica · 2008
We examine lambda calculus as a sign system and show that it explains important properties of language. First, we verify that a lambda-term has two essential functionalities of signs — articulation and naming — and argue that a lambda-term can thus be regarded as a sign model. Then, when signs are defined by self-reference, we show that these two functionalities become tightly coupled and that dyadic/triadic sign models become equivalent. Last, we show that the difference of structuralism is explained in relation to the undecidability of the equivalence of two arbitrary lambda-terms.