Rethinking the Peircean trichotomy of icon, index, and symbol

Ersu DING

Research output: Journal PublicationsJournal Article (refereed)peer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Classification of signs into various kinds is a vital enterprise in semio- tic research. As early as over a century ago, the American semiotician Charles Sanders Peirce laid down a solid foundation for this work by proposing his famous trichotomy of signs. Later scholars have been mostly applying Peirce’s theory to their own semiotic studies rather than challenging the inadequacies that exist therein, thus giving rise to a great number of confusions or even contradictions. The present article modifies Peirce’s theory from the perspective of sign emergence and evolution and emphasizes the importance of understanding sign transformations.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)165-175
Number of pages11
JournalSemiotica
Volume2016
Issue number213
Early online date9 Sept 2016
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Nov 2016

Keywords

  • Peircean trichotomy
  • classification of signs
  • icon
  • index
  • sign emergence and evolution
  • symbol

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