The language that a person uses in everyday communication, is not only a historically established form of culture that unites human society, but also a complex sign system. Understanding iconic properties language is necessary in order to better understand the structure of the language and the rules of its use.

Words human language are signs of objects and concepts. Words are the most numerous and main signs in a language. Other units of language are also signs.

Sign is a substitute for an object for the purpose of communication; a sign allows the speaker to evoke an image of an object or concept in the mind of the interlocutor.

• The sign has the following properties:
  • the sign must be material, accessible to perception;
  • the sign is directed towards the meaning;
  • the content of a sign does not coincide with its material characteristics, while the content of a thing is exhausted by its material properties;
  • the content and form of the sign are determined by distinctive features;
  • a sign is always a member of a system, and its content largely depends on the place of a given sign in the system.
• The above properties of the sign determine a number of requirements for the culture of speech.
  • Firstly, the speaker (writer) must take care that the signs of his speech ( sounding words or writing signs) were convenient for perception: quite clearly audible and visible.
  • Secondly, it is necessary that the signs of speech express some content, convey meaning, and in such a way that the form of speech makes it easier to understand the content of speech.
  • Thirdly, it is necessary to keep in mind that the interlocutor may be less knowledgeable about the subject of the conversation, which means that it is necessary to provide him with the missing information, which only in the opinion of the speaker is already contained in the spoken words.
  • Fourthly, it is important to ensure that sounds oral speech and the letters of the letter were quite clearly distinguished from each other.
  • Fifthly, it is important to remember system connections words with other words, take into account polysemy, use synonymy, keep in mind the associative connections of words.

Thus, knowledge from the field semiotics(sciences of signs) contribute to improving speech culture.

• Language sign Maybe code sign and text sign.
  • Code signs exist in the form of a system of opposed units in language, connected by relationship significance, which determines the content of signs specific to each language.
  • Text characters exist in the form of a formally and meaningfully related sequence of units. Speech culture presupposes the speaker’s attentive attitude to the coherence of the spoken or written text.

Meaning - this is the content of a linguistic sign, formed as a result of the reflection of extra-linguistic reality in the minds of people. The meaning of a language unit in the language system virtually, i.e. determined by what the unit can stand for. In a specific utterance, the meaning of a linguistic unit becomes relevant, since the unit correlates with a specific object, with what it actually means in a statement. From the point of view of speech culture, it is important for the speaker to clearly direct the interlocutor’s attention to updating the meaning of the statement, to help him correlate the statement with the situation, and for the listener it is important to show maximum attention to the communicative intentions of the speaker.

• Distinguish substantive and conceptual meaning.
  • Subject meaning consists in the correlation of a word with an object, in the designation of an object.
  • Conceptual meaning serves to express a concept reflecting an object, to specify a class of objects denoted by a sign.

Before we begin to resolve the issue of the sign nature of language, it is necessary to define and establish as accurately as possible the nature and essence of the phenomena in question.

First, of course, we need to define what a sign is. Apparently, this concept can be interpreted in different aspects(including philosophical); We are only interested in its linguistic definition here. It is also not uniform.

Sometimes only the external and accessible is called a sign. sensory perception discovery or indication of any conceptual content. But such an interpretation of the sign cannot be accepted, since without correlation with the content or, as they sometimes say, with its inner side, the sign is not a sign - it does not mean anything. Therefore, it is more correct, together with Saussure, to interpret the sign as a combination of internal and external sides or as a whole, the constituent elements of which are the signifier and the signified.

At the same time, in the linguistic disclosure of these particular concepts (signifier and signified), it seems necessary to make significant adjustments to Saussure’s explanation of them. He says that “a linguistic sign connects not a thing and a name, but a concept and an acoustic image,” he tries to deprive the sign of all qualities of materiality (rather unsuccessfully, since he himself speaks of the sensuality of the acoustic image) and calls it “a two-sided mental essence "

IN further development linguistics and this necessary adjustment was made. When people talk about the sign nature of language, they usually mean the nature of the relationship between the sound shell of a word and its semantic content or meaning. Consequently, the question of the sign nature of language is most closely intertwined with the question of the essence of lexical meaning.

It is quite obvious that the question of the sign nature of language must be resolved fundamentally and inevitably differently, depending on whether the lexical meaning of a word is defined as a part specific in its features language structure, i.e. as a purely linguistic phenomenon, or is it taken beyond the boundaries of linguistic phenomena. In that the latter case they say that the word serves to designate concepts or objects, which, therefore, constitute the meaning of the word.

V.A. Zvegintsev. Essays on general linguistics- Moscow, 1962

Introduction

The language that a person uses in everyday communication is not only a historically established form of culture that unites human society, but also a complex sign system. Understanding the sign properties of a language is necessary in order to better understand the structure of the language and the rules for its use.

The topic of the proposed work is “The evolution of ideas about the symbolic nature of language.”

The relevance of the work is related to increased interest to the chosen topic, and also with the fact that language remains a central theme throughout its history.

Purpose this study is the image of a sign as a sign system.

The objectives of the study are to determine the linguistic sign, its representation in language, as well as the image of the sign as a sign system of language.

The object of research is the linguistic system of the language.

The subject of research is the sign in the language system.

The novelty of the work lies in the study and presentation of the sign in the linguistic system of the language.

The theoretical and methodological basis consists of research on the theory of the issue: J. Grima, L. Hjelmslev, F. Saussure.

The structure of the work consists of an introduction, three sections, conclusions and list of references. The first section provides a definition of a linguistic sign. The second section of the work examines the essence of sign representation in language. The third section considers the image of a sign as a sign system of language.

The list of used literature consists of eight items. The volume of work is eighteen pages.

Definition of a linguistic sign

Iconic character human language constitutes one of its universal features and main features. They inexpressively proceeded from the concept of a sign in their scientific disputes about the essence of things and their names, the ancient Hellenes, nominalists and realists - followers of two diametrically opposed philosophical movements of the Middle Ages, the classics of comparative and typological linguistics. Since the times of Baudouin de Courtenay and F. de Saussure, all any significant theories of language in modern times have rested on the concept of sign. linguistic science.

Language is one of the functions human body in the broadest sense of the word" (I. A. Baudouin de Courtenay).

What is considered symbolic in a language? Under the sign aspect natural language They usually understand the correlation of linguistic elements (morphemes, words, phrases, sentences, etc.). To the sign function linguistic units include, further, their property of expressing results in a general way cognitive activity of a person, consolidate and store the results of his socio-historical experience.

The sign aspect of language includes the ability of linguistic elements to carry certain information and perform various communicative and expressive tasks in the process of communication. Consequently, the term “sign”, as well as the synonymous term “semiotic”, are polysemantic, they contain different contents and, in relation to natural language, they can be attributed to four different functions of linguistic elements: designation function (representative), generalizing (gnoseological), communicative and pragmatic. The direct connection of language with thinking, with the mechanism and logic of cognition, the unique property of human language to serve universal system designations of the entire diversity of the objective world - all this made the sign aspect of language the subject of study different sciences(philosophy, semiotics, logic, psychology, linguistics, etc.), due to the commonality of the object, are not always clearly demarcated from each other.

Formulated at logical analysis language, semiotic concepts, having been applied for various research purposes in linguistics, have somewhat advanced the study of the sign aspect of language, giving rise to new linguistic directions, starting with the creation of the “algebraic” theory of language by L. Hjelmslev, where language is reduced to a formal logical structure, and ending with the generative grammar of N. Chomsky, theoretical justifications which in known plan go back to the same source.

The concepts of “sign system” and “sign” in relation to natural language have a certain meaning only in the case when they are defined purely linguistically and when the presumption about the sign character of the language as a whole or its individual level is holistic theory language, built on the results of the study of these properties and formulated as a result of clear implications of the concept of a linguistic sign. Where these terms are used without a system attached to them linguistic definitions, they remain empty labels. It is this fact that often creates a situation of mutual misunderstanding in linguistics: the less justifiably and definitely some terms “sign”, “sign”, “sign system” are used without studying their specifics, the more categorically others reject the very idea of ​​sign representation - the main property of natural language, - also without referring to the study of this property of language.

The division of the signifier and the signified sign into components, the opposition of signs and non-signs (figures) occupies a significant place in the development of the problem of the sign nature of language. Besides great circle issues that are associated with the name of F. de Saussure, in the development of the theory of the sign essence of natural language, the following problems are discussed in our time: the difference linguistic signs from “natural signs”, typology of signs, types of meanings, creation of the foundations of linguistic semiotics and much more. The linguistic development of the problem of the sign nature of language, begun by F. de Saussure, is represented today by a wide variety of points of view, which will be touched upon to one degree or another during the discussion of individual problems.

The iconic nature of language

The relationship between language and thought is an area of ​​joint research in philosophy, psychology, sociology, semiotics, philology, logic, rhetoric, art history, pedagogy, linguistics and many other sciences. The relationship of language to thought has long been studied by these sciences; it began as early as ancient philosophy, but the complexity of the subject, the hiddenness of the subject from direct observation, the practical impossibility of the experiment leave this relationship, in fact, unclear. At the same time, interest in this subject of research has always been great. A positive solution to this problem could have the most beneficial consequences.

The problem of the relationship of thought to language in linguistics is considered in three aspects: 1) the problem of thought and thinking from the point of view of linguistics; 2) the problem of the linguistic form of thought; 3) the problem of reflecting reality by thought, organized by linguistic form.

Every thought contained in a statement is formed according to the laws of the sign material in which it is embodied in this statement. Thus, in painting, dance, music, drawings, thought takes the appropriate form. Therefore, it is customary to talk about thinking in linguistic form, in the form of art or technology. The features of the linguistic form of thought are learned in comparison with the forms of thought represented in non-linguistic signs.

Signs are divided by material and purpose. There are relatively few basic sign systems, without which society cannot arise and culture develop, but on their basis new signs and sign systems develop.

According to folklore and ethnography, there are sixteen sign systems necessary for the formation and initial life of society: folk signs, folk fortune-telling, omens, body plasticity and dance, music, fine Arts, ornament, folk architecture, applied arts, costume and tattoo, measures, landmarks, commands and signals, rituals, games, language. Not even the most primitive society can do without this complex of sign systems*.

*(These data were fully confirmed when analyzing dictionaries. The dictionary of any language shows that if we single out the semantic field of “semiotics”, then the main system of classes of semiotic phenomena is reduced to the sixteen named.)

Against this background, it becomes clear special role language. The differences between language and non-linguistic systems are as follows. Language presented in speech sounds; this means that, unlike other sign systems, it can be used at any time. Language natural according to the material. Because of this, in addition to independent task by implementation special meanings, language connects all sign systems with each other. Using the tongue appointed and the content of the signs of all other systems is explained.

Sound form, universality of use and the ability to assign and explain all other types of signs require language to have special ways of forming thought. Oral language usually depends in its content on all other sign systems (directly reflecting the world and organizing the activities of people). In this sense, the content of linguistic signs is, as it were, secondary. Language is not only a “cognitive” system, but also one that explains the results of cognition, and not only organizes collaboration, but also creating conditions for their organization, not so much predictive as providing a forecast and disseminating the results of a forecast made using another sign system.

Language is a means of communication between other sign systems. Thus, with the help of language, the assignment occurs folk signs, explanation of omens, establishing the objects of fortune-telling and explaining the results of fortune-telling, teaching the arts and practical exercises, introducing measures, establishing the meaning of landmarks and explaining the content of commands and signals. All this means that language must have the ability to: 1) explain reality; 2) teach other signs; 3) give a command, give a guideline and serve as a measure - and all this in conditions where every member of society is both the creator of a verbal sign and its audience.

The ancients divided sign systems into virtually the same categories as ethnography and lexicography, but called them arts. The musical arts were distinguished: music, dance (and pantomime), image and ornament; practical arts: crafts, including construction; applied arts: costume, measures, guidelines, signals according to the nature of the craft; the art of divination: omens, omens, fortune telling; the art of education (pedagogy) and logical arts: rhetoric, grammar, analytics (logic), stylistics, i.e. philology as a complex of knowledge. Logical (i.e. linguistic) arts stand out due to their special role. If the illogical arts must be taught to the professional, then the logical arts must be taught to every citizen.

The development of signs and the emergence of new semiotic systems is associated with the development of language. History shows that only inventions in the field of material of linguistic signs lead to the formation of new sign complexes and systems. Therefore, linguistic signs contain both images of other signs and images of actions with these signs, and hence images of the world explained by signs. Having become a common property and being understood uniformly, the language must convey all the meanings specialized in different sign systems. Therefore, language allows abstract operations with meaning—reasoning—that are separated from reality. For this purpose, language needs signs with a common characteristic meaning. This - conceptual meaning.

Abstract the nature of linguistic signs is explained by the fact that the need to serve as an intermediary between sign systems requires the language to interpret both “eternal” (from the point of view of a person’s life span) signs (for example, images) and signs that “die” at the moment of creation and perception (for example , music), as well as signs that are renewed with each use (for example, measures). Therefore, the content of linguistic signs should not depend on the ephemerality of the sound material, but should be suitable for constant use, which means being free from attachment to place and time.

But the mere abstractness of meaning would make the language unusable if it were not possible to link these abstract meanings with place and time. The correlation of meanings with place and time is accomplished in statements by using special words and forms with the meaning of place and time, for example, adverbs, prepositions, tense and aspectual forms of verbs and adverbial nouns.

Abstract meanings of place and time cannot be specified in a statement if it does not indicate the relationship of speech to reality, i.e. values modalities, expressed in forms of speech, questions, motives, narratives, denials and statements, indications of desirability-undesirability, possibility-impossibility, conditionality-unconditionality and other meanings (transmitted in the latter case by specialized forms and intonation). Need for modal forms It is also caused by the fact that musical, practical and prognostic signs, united by language, have different orientations towards reality.

Referring to place and time and to reality the content of a speech act requires specifying the meanings of persons, since the subjectivity of the speech act allows listeners to assess its reliability. Hence, in the act of speech the category is necessarily expressed faces through verb forms, pronouns and pronominal nouns.

Thus, character traits linguistic signs that distinguish them from all others are the following: the abstractness of the meaning of individual linguistic elements and the specification of their meanings in a statement; 2) special expression by special elements of meaning: time, place, modality, person; 3) the opportunity, thanks to this, to make differentiated judgments about the past and future in isolation from direct events and situations and from sign phenomena.

On the other hand, the subject-thematic content of signs unites language with the meanings of other sign systems. According to the subject-thematic orientation general values speeches are contrasted in two directions - poetry and prose. Prose addressed to values practical arts, and poetry- to values musical arts. The meanings of linguistic signs are close to poetry (artistic-figurative) and close to prose (object-figurative). In the content of each sign, even in the meaning grammatical forms, there are both sides - both poetic and prosaic. Thus, the meaning of the gender of nouns in figuratively indicates gender, and in conceptual terms - the class of nouns. This double orientation is valid for the values significant words. Two types of imagery are associated with the fact that language, being oriented towards practical semiotics, towards such systems as drawings, measures, signals, creates subject images, and being focused on music, body plasticity, painting, - artistic images. To create figurative meanings, language resorts to the means of onomatopoeia, sound symbolism, etymology internal forms, idioms, phraseology, figurative compositional and stylistic forms of speech. Both poetry and prose operate not only with images, but also with concepts. To create them, language resorts to various types determining the meanings of words (by interpretation, through a synonym, enumeration by analogy, etc.) up to the direct correlation of a word with the object that this word names.

Polysemy, synonymy and homonymy in equally serve to create figurative and conceptual meanings, being used in different ways in prose and poetic texts. The figurative-conceptual structure of subject-thematic meanings allows the language to develop its own means of symbolic expressiveness, which, on the one hand, form the basis of works of musical arts, and on the other, are the basis for the construction of languages ​​of logic, mathematics and programming.

If it is necessary to describe situations, abstract and concrete ones are highlighted linguistic meanings directed at the language itself, or grammatical meanings, and lexical meanings aimed at objects of reality, signs and actions with objects of reality and signs. These are language forms thoughts inherent in language solely due to its place among sign systems and material structure. These forms of thought reveal the sign nature of language.

Word - this is the main independent unit of language correlated with the lexico-grammatical class, which contains a set of lexical meanings traditionally assigned to it and serves to nominate objects of reality, form thoughts and transmit messages as part of sentences.

Ogden-Richards triangle

The relationship between a concept and the word that expresses it is linguistic, intralinguistic in nature and can be called significative. The relationship between a concept and an object is defined as denotative. The subject of thought belongs to the extralinguistic (extralinguistic) sphere. There is no direct connection between a word and the object it names; these relationships are unmotivated.

Iconic character of the word lies in the fact that the word is both sign-signal of meaning , and with him sign-signal of an object .

2. Signs of a word (integrity, identity, variability, syntactic independence).

The word has a sign of completeness , which distinguishes it from a phrase. Completeness arises thanks to its semantic integrity and its belonging to a certain part of speech, due to the internal morphological unity of the word and the impossibility of dividing it into two or more equal parts, similar to dividing phrases into words. For example, limpiadientes – Toothbrush, limpia dientes– he brushes his teeth (in this case the words can change their forms, for example, limpian dientes).

The problem of word identity is the problem of the immutability of the same word when its form changes in different cases of use. Word identity - this is the possibility of its reproducibility, repetition in all its forms in countless acts of speech without losing the content assigned to it in the minds of native speakers. Example: trabajo, trabajas, he trabajado.

Variability consists in the presence of different variants of the same word, preserving a common root part and the same semantic origin. With such variations, the identity of the word is preserved.

Varieties of word variants:

1.Phonetic options. For example: zumo [θumo] / .

2.Phonetic-spelling options. For example: aloe / áloe.

3.Orthographic options. For example: whiskey / whiskey / güisky.

4.Morphological options. For example: vuelta / vuelto (surrender).

A sign of independence or the individuality of a word is also manifested in the fact that a word is always a grammatically formed lexical unit, correlated with a specific lexical-grammatical class of words. In other words, it is always a certain part of speech. Words turn out to be grammatically, both morphologically and syntactically, formed, in a certain way adapted to their joint functioning in coherent, meaningful speech. The word is given a certain completeness, allowing it to be distinguished from speech.

3. Lexical meaning. Motivated and unmotivated meaning. Correlation between meaning and concept. Folk etymology.

Lexical meaning – the semantic content of a word, formed on the basis of a concept that generally reflects in the minds of native speakers objects of a certain class, and various emotional-expressive, evaluative and other semantic shades (connotations).

For example, words cara, faz And jeta express in relation to a person the same concept “front of the head”, but cara– more neutral word, conceptual core, faz has a solemn connotation, and jeta– dismissive and vulgar.

Lexical meaning can be motivated or unmotivated. It depends on the characteristics of the so-called internal form of the word – a way of representing the meaning of a word. Unmotivated words are arbitrary. For example, it is impossible, based on the sound and spelling, to explain why mesa- it is a table. But in motivated In words, the idea of ​​the primary feature that formed the basis of the concept being formed has been preserved. For example, meseta- plateau.

Folk etymology (etimología popular) – erroneous understanding of the unmotivated internal form of a word. For example, the word melancolí a motivated as malenconí a(from mal– illness and encono- anger, malice).