The notion that language is a system of signs is explored in the context of Mandarin Chinese.We use the Peircean Sign,derived from the Peircean ontological categories Firstness,Secondness,and Thirdness,as an interpret...The notion that language is a system of signs is explored in the context of Mandarin Chinese.We use the Peircean Sign,derived from the Peircean ontological categories Firstness,Secondness,and Thirdness,as an interpretive framework.Because Mandarin Chinese is both well-documented and comparatively opaque to foreign influences,it presents an ideal case study for the formation of semiotic structures based on the operation of a single Peircean Category-sign(in contrast to English,which,with much higher levels of foreign contact-induced change,would be expected to involve a broad mixture of various semiotic influences).We examine semiotic structures in Chinese at the featural/phonological,lexical,and morphosyntactic levels,as well as the inventory of written characters.We conclude that the primary constraint that conditions semiotic structures in Chinese is the Peircean category Firstness of Secondness/[12].We also show how this conditioning constraint imposes a semiotic and structural consistency across different levels of language,and how it helps to explain certain evolutionary characteristics of Chinese.展开更多
Based on previous published work on(Mandarin)Chinese,and following a discussion of the properties of the Peircean ontological Categories Firstness,Secondness,and Thirdness(as well as their"degenerate"or deri...Based on previous published work on(Mandarin)Chinese,and following a discussion of the properties of the Peircean ontological Categories Firstness,Secondness,and Thirdness(as well as their"degenerate"or derivative versions)and their applicability to sign systems,in general,I examine evidence for paradigmatic and syntagmatic structuring,conditioned by these Categories,in Mandarin Chinese,Sora,Tamil,and Sanskrit,languages chosen because of the typological divergence amongst them,and because of the author's familiarity with them and with their respective cultural milieus.The paradigmatic and syntagmatic structures identified arise in the presence of what I term positive and negative conditioning constraints arising from the Categories themselves,and which are shown to operate at three different levels in language,the morphosyntactic,the lexical,and the phonological.Because of this,a methodology grounded in Peircean semiotic structures is shown to have the explanatory potential to allow for a unified model of language structure,in general.展开更多
文摘The notion that language is a system of signs is explored in the context of Mandarin Chinese.We use the Peircean Sign,derived from the Peircean ontological categories Firstness,Secondness,and Thirdness,as an interpretive framework.Because Mandarin Chinese is both well-documented and comparatively opaque to foreign influences,it presents an ideal case study for the formation of semiotic structures based on the operation of a single Peircean Category-sign(in contrast to English,which,with much higher levels of foreign contact-induced change,would be expected to involve a broad mixture of various semiotic influences).We examine semiotic structures in Chinese at the featural/phonological,lexical,and morphosyntactic levels,as well as the inventory of written characters.We conclude that the primary constraint that conditions semiotic structures in Chinese is the Peircean category Firstness of Secondness/[12].We also show how this conditioning constraint imposes a semiotic and structural consistency across different levels of language,and how it helps to explain certain evolutionary characteristics of Chinese.
文摘Based on previous published work on(Mandarin)Chinese,and following a discussion of the properties of the Peircean ontological Categories Firstness,Secondness,and Thirdness(as well as their"degenerate"or derivative versions)and their applicability to sign systems,in general,I examine evidence for paradigmatic and syntagmatic structuring,conditioned by these Categories,in Mandarin Chinese,Sora,Tamil,and Sanskrit,languages chosen because of the typological divergence amongst them,and because of the author's familiarity with them and with their respective cultural milieus.The paradigmatic and syntagmatic structures identified arise in the presence of what I term positive and negative conditioning constraints arising from the Categories themselves,and which are shown to operate at three different levels in language,the morphosyntactic,the lexical,and the phonological.Because of this,a methodology grounded in Peircean semiotic structures is shown to have the explanatory potential to allow for a unified model of language structure,in general.
