On the Indexical Nature of Language
Jun Wang · Language and Semiotic Studies · 2019
In linguistics as well as semiotics, words have long been deemed as symbols instead of icons or indexes.Although in some particular cases words can be iconic, such as the Chinese characters 日, 月, 火, etc., or indexical, such as pronouns (e.g., he, she, it) and demonstratives (e.g., this, that, these, those), most words are believed to be symbols, whose signifier and signified sustain an arbitrary relation in nature.Icon and symbol are distinct concepts and have been clearly defined to a large extent, but index seems to be rather vague in signification.Based on relevant research and Peirce's trichotomy of signs, we propose a pan-indexicality model used for interpreting linguistic signs.In this model, a linguistic sign is taken as an index that guides the addressee to search for objects or senses at three levels, i.e., the formal sense level, the conventional sense level, and the overall sense level.Interference of the Interpretant in meaning understanding varies at two general levels.At the formal and conventional levels, it is the Interpretant i (knowledge shared by both the addresser and the addressee) that determines meaning understanding, but at the overall sense level, the personalized Interpretant ii (knowledge owned solely by the addressee) plays a key role.Throughout the whole pan-indexicality process, formal sense and the Interpretant ii are two key factors that are related to the particular and distinct features of English and Chinese.