‫الجامعة السعودية اللكترونية‬

‫الجامعة السعودية اللكترونية‬

‫‪26/12/2021‬‬
.Chapter 2 : Meaning as a sign

ENG 340: English Language Cultural Studies 2

Meaning as sign
The primary function of linguistic signs is to express
and convey meaning, and ultimately to communicate.

• The linguistic sign

• The meaning of signs
• Cultural encodings
• Semantic cohesion
• The non-arbitrary nature of signs
• Symbols

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 Meaning as sign

Language can mean in two fundamental ways,

both of which are intimately linked to culture:

• Semantics = (Encoded sign) what it is/the meaning

of the words.
• Pragmatics = (Action in context)- what it does in a
context e.g. how the same word can have diferent
meanings in diferent settings. An example of
pragmatics is the study of how people react to
diferent symbols.
ENG 340: English Language Cultural Studies 4
 Meaning as sign
The linguistic sign

• Two elements for

meaning- making:

1. A signifer:
(words/sounds) e.g.
apple
2. A signifed: (object)
e.g. fresh fruit that
grows on a tree

ENG 340: English Language Cultural Studies 5

 Meaning as sign
A sign is neither the word itself nor the object it refers to
but the relation between the two
• Linguistics signs are:
• Arbitrary: when there is no specifc relation between
the signifer word and the signifed object.
e.g. Arabic speakers will not know what “apple” is if
they
don’t understand English. This sign has no meaning to
them.
• Asymmetrical: when there is no one to one
correspondence, no perfect ft between the signifer
and signifed.
ENG 340: English Language Cultural Studies 6
The meaning of signs
Referents are when a word refers to an object.
E.g. a rose is a referent for (or points to) a plant grows in nature.
Three meanings of a sign:
1. Denotative: The meaning of words in the dictionary.
2. Connotations: associations with this word that are evoked in
the mind of the reader - usually ‘abstract’ concepts. e.g. ‘rose’
connotes beauty, romance, love, courage..
3. Iconic: is a relationship of resemblance or similarity between
the two aspects of a sign: its form and its meaning. An iconic
sign is one whose form resembles its meaning in some way.-
e.g. A road sign that marks a bicycle lane and has an image of
bicycle on it is iconic because the form of the sign, in
particular the graphic image on it, is related in a direct way to
its meaning
ENG 340: English Language Cultural Studies 7
 Cultural encodings
All three types of signs correspond to ways in which members of a
given discourse community encode their experience. This is the
process of translating thoughts, ideas, or questions into words.
In that regard, the code (Language - either written, spoken,
sign language...) is not something that can be separated
from its meanings.

Signs denote reality in diferent communities by dividing it up in

diferent way.
For example, table, Tisch, mesa denote the same object by
reference to a piece of furniture, but whereas the English sign
‘table’ denotes all tables, Polish encodes dining tables as Stol,
cofee tables or telephone tables as stolik.

ENG 340: English Language Cultural Studies 8

Cultural encodings
Semantic networks:
This a network that
represents semantic
relations between
concepts,or the meaning
of a concept comes from
the ways in which it is
connected to other
concepts
e.g. in English: house/
window, boy/girl .
In Arabic: house/family,
boy/mother.
ENG 340: English Language Cultural Studies 9
Cultural encodings
Same speech community signs might have diferent values
from people from diferent discourse communities.
Everyone who speaks English does not necessarily connect ideas
(which have been presented to them through words/signs) in the
same way, depending on whether English is their frst language, or
where in the world they live.

Any diferences noted among the diferent languages

are not only diferences in the code itself, but in the
semantic meanings attributed to these diferent
encodings by language-using communities.
It is these meanings that make the linguistic sign into
a cultural sign.
ENG 340: English Language Cultural Studies 10
 Semantic Cohesion
In any language, Semantic cohesion is established by:
Cohesive devices: devices that link the text together, e.g.
pronouns (it), demonstratives (this), conjunctions (but, when),
etc. (Co-text).

Prior text: when a sign or word relate to other words and

instances of text, that have stuck in a community’s memory,
e.g dusha in Russian is “soul” in English but means “ a person’s
inner core” in Russian culture which is related to religion , human
will, inner speech.

Metaphors: carry cultural semantic meaning,

e.g. the metaphor of visual feld as a container in English. ‘I have
him in sight’, ‘he’s out of sight now’.
ENG 340: English Language Cultural Studies 11
 The non-arbitrary nature of signs
Culturally created signs are motivated in nature.
– Sign-making and sign-interpreting practices are motivated by the
need and desire of language users to infuence people, act upon
them or even only to make sense of the world around them.
– With the desire to communicate a certain meaning to others comes
also the desire to be listened to, to be taken seriously, to be
believed, and to infuence in turn other peoples’ beliefs and actions.

The linguistic sign is therefore a motivated sign.

Even though it is people who ascribe meaning to signs based on what is
available to us in our culture/standard practice, Natives see signs as
natural (non-arbitrary),
e.g life is feminine, death is masculine for native Arabic speakers.

ENG 340: English Language Cultural Studies 12

Symbols

Symbol: a thing that represents

something else, usually something
physical that represents something
more abstract.
• They help us communicate
thoughts & feelings that could not
be otherwise expressed as
easily/clearly.
• They can represent something
which cannot be physically shown
at that place or time
• Types: visual (heart) / written (an
image, setting in book)
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Symbols
What it represents depends on context surrounding
it.
Symbolic shorthand: when linguistic signs are emptied of
their full meaning, e.g. “democracy” and “freedom” are
overused, they become political symbols.

Time validates both the sign itself and its users. The
construction and reconstruction of contexts through the use
of signs enables language users to control their
environment, and to monitor their and others’ behavior in
that environment
.

ENG 340: English Language Cultural Studies 14

Cultural stereotypes
Is a belief that all members of a specifc group share
similar traits and tend to behave in a same way.

• Generalizations become stereotypes when all members of a

group are categorized as having the same characteristics.
Stereotypes can be linked to any type of cultural membership,
such as nationality, religion, gender, race, or age.
• A type of ‘symbolic language’
• Frozen signs in a culture.
• Often promotes negative themes.

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Example

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Reference
Kramsch, C. (2009) Language and Culture. Oxford, New
York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0194372145
(print)

ENG 340: English Language Cultural Studies 17

Thank
You

ENG 340: English Language Cultural Studies 18