A sign is not a symbol, but a symbol is a sign. Logo or trademark: what to choose, what is the difference Difference between symbols and ordinary signs

Everyday reality is filled with signs and symbols. Both have an important semantic load. But not everyone can answer the question of how a sign differs from a symbol. Let's try to figure it out.

Definition

Sign is an image (gesture, action), which means any specific thought.

Road sign

Symbol - this is a thing, image or other, to which a special deep meaning is assigned, only indirectly related to the direct content of the visible.

Comparison

The subjects discussed play an important role in human communication. And the difference between a sign and a symbol is, first of all, in the ratio of the visual image and what is hidden under it. The sign directly points to something. For example, a finger near closed lips clearly expresses a request to remain silent, and looking at the image of the crossed out iron on the label, everyone will understand that such a thing cannot be ironed.

Sometimes it is difficult to guess how this or that sign is interpreted - you just need to find out and remember. But in any case, such images are very specific. Signs often permit, prohibit, or are warning signs.

The symbol serves to reveal what does not lie on the surface. He does not point directly to any subject, but is an abstraction. Here, an artistic image plays a key role, embodying an idea, an experience, or, for example, an idea of \u200b\u200ba profession, a direction of art. Colors can symbolize something ( white - innocence), figures ( a circle - eternity), images of animals ( a lion - strength, greatness). The coat of arms and the flag are also symbols.

The sign is usually straightforward. The easier it is to decipher, the more convenient it is to use such a tool. The symbol, on the other hand, is rich in content. This is a kind of riddle, to understand which you need to be able to think. In addition, a symbol, as opposed to a sign, can be interpreted in several ways. For example, green color associated with pacification, tranquility, harmony, freshness, youth, renewal.

What is the difference between sign and symbol yet? The fact that signs more often form whole systems. Symbols, as a rule, "prefer" a separate existence. It is also noteworthy that in science the concepts under consideration are in synonymous relations. Display of quantities, abbreviations, etc. can be called both a sign and a symbol.

Culture, starting from organization, from order, from ritual, structures the world around a person in certain forms. These forms are symbolic and symbolic. When it comes to symbols and signs, the question always arises: sign - what? symbol - what? This question means that the meaning of these concepts can be revealed only by analyzing their relation to something third, to the original, which may not have (and most often does not have) anything in common in physical, chemical and other properties with the reflection carrier. But everyone is in some kind of connection, arising from human cognitionputting this result in certain forms. The concepts "sign" and "symbol" are often used in the same semantic context, but this is far from always justified. Let's consider the specifics of their origin and functioning.

Sometimes you can find the statement that signs are what distinguishes a person from the animal world. The definition of a sign as a watershed between animal and human behavior is the result of a confusion between the concepts of sign and symbol. However, there is reason to believe that proto-languages \u200b\u200barose from sign systems that formed in the animal kingdom. The researchers argue that these systems can be highly differentiated. So, for example, dominant males in a vervet flock can emit six different danger signals. Some of these signals mean "just" danger, some mean certain "types" of danger ("man" or "snake", "danger from above", "leopard", "danger from below").

The line between culture and nature is generally not as obvious as those who absolutize the shortest definition of culture: “culture is everything that is not nature”. K. Levi-Strauss, who conducted field research in the tropical jungles of Central Brazil among the tribes where the layer of culture is still very thin and it is possible to trace the connection between man and nature, when the signifier had not yet completely separated from the signified, concluded that the taboo on incest turned out to be that border , after which nature passed into culture. However, the German ethnologist Bischoff proved that the same taboo exists in gray geese and that a similar behavioral model is most likely due to hormonal processes.

Based on this kind of research, we believe that human culture begins where and when the ability of consciousness to symbolize appears. Signs and symbols, wrote E. Cassirer, "belong to two different discursive universes: signal [E. Cassirer uses this term as a synonym for sign. - N. B. ] is part of the physical world of being, while the symbol is part of the human world of meaning. Signals are "operators", symbols are "designators" ... A symbol is not only universal, but also extremely changeable ... A sign or signal is related to the thing to which they refer, in a fixed, unique way. "

So, sign Is a material object (phenomenon, event) that acts as an objective substitute for some other object, property or relationship and is used to acquire, store, process and transmit messages (information, knowledge). It is a materialized carrier of the image of an object, limited by its functional purpose... The presence of the sign makes it possible to transfer information through technical communication channels and its various - mathematical, statistical, logical - processing.

Symbol is one of the most ambiguous concepts. It is believed that the word simbolon was the name of the half of the shard, issued to the guest and serving as an identity card on subsequent visits to the house. Symbol in culture, it is a universal, polysemantic category that reveals itself through the comparison of the objective image and deep meaning. Passing into a symbol, the image becomes "transparent", the meaning, as it were, shines through it.

The aesthetic information carried by the symbol has a huge number of degrees of freedom, far exceeding the capabilities of human perception. "I call any structure of meaning a symbol," wrote P. Ricoeur, "where a direct, primary, literal meaning simultaneously means another, indirect, secondary, allegorical meaning, which can only be understood through the first. This circle of expressions with a double meaning is actually hermeneutic field ".

Table 6.1 an attempt is made to systematize information about the sign and symbol. It also includes information about such an important category of language as metaphor.

Table c. one

Comparative characteristics of the categories "sign", "symbol", "metaphor"

A person's everyday life is filled with symbols and signs that regulate his behavior, permitting or forbidding something, personifying and filling with meaning. In symbols and signs, both the external "I" of a person (self), and the internal "I" (I), the unconscious given to him by nature, are manifested. K. Levi-Strauss claimed to have found a path from symbols and signs to the unconscious structure of the mind, and therefore to the structure of the Universe.

The unity of man and the universe is one of the most ancient and mysterious themes in culture. In legends, people are stars, the helicity of celestial nebulae is repeated many times in the ornaments of all earthly cultures, red blood owes its color to iron, and all the iron that is on earth, according to astronomers, originated in stellar matter. Or let's take the spiral structure of many areas of the human body: the auricle, the iris of the eye ... It was this feeling of unity that allowed the mathematician and poet V. Khlebnikov to create his own model of a metalanguage consisting of seven layers.

Getting closer to the mystery, however, only increases its mystery. But this sense of mystery is “the most beautiful and deepest experience that a person has,” as A. Einstein asserts, “lies at the basis of religion and all the most profound trends in art and science. Anyone who has not experienced this feeling seems to me if not a dead man, then at least blind "

According to Jung, a sign always replaces something else. It contains a certain known meaning that can be expressed in another way. The main feature of a sign is the ability to implement the substitution function. The word replaces a thing, object, concept; money replaces value, socially necessary labor; the map replaces the terrain; continuing the thought - the logo replaces the image of the company, the brand of the product replaces the image of this product. "A sign is always less than the concept it represents, while a symbol always contains more than its obvious and immediately meaningful meaning." A symbol is a natural and spontaneously arising product, in contrast to a sign, a symbol is something "in itself - dynamic and alive".

It should be noted that the simple ideas expressed by the symbol are emotional, acquire new strength, and expand their meaning from a particular case to generalization. Thus, a stylized image of a heart on the logo of a blood transfusion center will be only a sign, but a heart carved on a tree or laid out of margarine in an advertisement for a corresponding product is already a symbol, not a sign.

Another very important difference between a symbol and a sign is that the sign has a practical, unambiguous meaning by its nature: "no smoking", "danger", "exit", "entrance", "passage closed". The symbol has many more meanings, sometimes contradicting each other. Therefore, if for a symbol polysemy is a positive quality - the more polysemous a symbol is, the more meaningful it is, then for a sign polysemy is a negative phenomenon - the more unambiguously the sign is understood, the more constructively it can be used.

The system "archetype - archetypal image (symbol) - sign" acts as the basis for archetypal modeling of the brand image. This method is based on understanding the human psyche as an element of the collective unconscious. The collective unconscious and its structural elements - archetypes - are manifested in the human mind in dreams, myths and legends through archetypal images (symbols), which serve as central elements in the formation of the brand image.

Thus, advertising images of brands are, in this methodology, a reflection of the archetypes of the collective unconscious person, which are presented in advertising work with the help of archetypal symbols and their functional substitutes - signs.

Summing up, we can conclude that the main content of signs-symbols is the propaganda of the idea or ideological concept contained in them. In the case of the blessing of the cross - the ideas of Christ, who sacrificed himself for the salvation of all people on earth; in the case of the cruiser Aurora - the ideas of the Bolshevik revolution and the transformation of the world according to its own canons; in the play by Ionesco - an attempt to understand the terrible tragedy experienced by the peoples of Europe during the invasion of the fascist hordes during the Second World War; in the case of a family album, the satisfaction of sweet memories of times gone by, gone forever and reflected in photographs. In ordinary signs, their main function is the function of designating an object or phenomenon reflected in them. This is not their only function, but it serves as the main stimulus for the existence of a sign of this kind.

Symbology is a voluminous science that studies a huge number of signs that have arisen and are emerging throughout the history of mankind.

Each nation, each era, each person created his own system of symbols, which he trusted and which was defining for him.

Not all signs that emerged became symbols, just as not all symbols are signs. And in order to successfully classify symbols, you need to understand the difference between them.

Symbols is a schematic, abstract, multivalued display of the image of an object, concept or phenomenon.

Sign is a schematic unambiguous representation of an object, concept or phenomenon.

Thus, the main difference between a symbol and a sign is whether a semantic meaning is assigned to it or whether it carries introductory information.

As a result, the first point of classification should be division by common characteristic:

1) symbol

2) sign

Both will have their own characteristics and their own classification. But at this stage, we leave the signs and go directly to the symbols, since we will develop a detailed classification for them.

First of all, division should be done whenever possible using symbols for magical purposes... Therefore, we divide by:

1) magical - possess magical powers or are used in various magical practices

2) not magical- do not have magical powers and are not used for magical purposes.

At the next stage of classification, we consider the symbols by degree of difficulty... They may be:

1) Simple - consisting of one character

2) Complex - consisting of a group of simple symbols, combined logically, and having in such a combination their own meaning, different from the meaning of the simple symbols that make it up.

Further classification is advisable to carry out level of abstractness... Symbols can be:

1) Specific - a simplified representation of certain phenomena of the real world

• symbol-concept - these are symbols reflecting ideas, feelings or abstract qualities associated with the inner world of living beings.
• symbol-image - symbols that imitate the shape of a creature or object with which they are associated.

2) Abstract - existing in unimprinted or mixed form.

• invisible symbols - abstract ideas and speculative pictures that do not exist in material form.
• ritual ceremonies and actions - magic symbols based on sound or gesture series.

1) graphic - all symbols that can be drawn or drawn on a plane (drawings, pictograms, hieroglyphs, etc.)

2) subject - all symbols that are expressed in material material form (things, objects, phenomena expressed explicitly)

3) auditory - intangible things that cannot be expressed graphically (songs, music, titles, names, etc.)

4) gestural - intangible things expressed by movements (dances, gestures)

The next parameter by which one can classify - origin of symbols. By originall characters are divisible by:

1) Natural symbols- symbols that are natural (for example: plants, animals, birds, minerals, planet symbols, etc.)

2) Artificial symbols- symbols that, in one way or another, were created or invented by man (numbers, works of art, symbols taken from mythology, etc.)

3) Sign symbols- symbols that are simultaneously signs (for example: alchemical symbols, symbols of the zodiacal constellations)

5) Heraldic symbols- symbols found in heraldry.

6) Combined characters- symbols that have the same meaning in different categories, scientific symbols can also be attributed here.

Further classification will be associated with characteristicdirectly each character. It is not necessarily general in nature, but gives an idea of \u200b\u200bthe possibilities of using each symbol in the magic system. This classification is not level and each character will be characterized by all categories.

By purpose of exposurethey are:

• Filling - symbols that interact directly with energy
• Cleansing - symbols used in various cleansing amulets and charms that help cleanse from various kinds of negativity
• Destructive - symbols that contribute to the destruction of an object or phenomenon
• Restoring - symbols that allow you to restore the destroyed
• Protective - symbols used in protection against negative energy
• Percussion - symbols used to attack
• Exploding - symbols that trigger under certain conditions
• Copying - symbols that allow you to recreate a copy of an object in any form, including astral
• Strengthening - symbols that enhance the effect of magic items or other symbols and signs
• Distorting - symbols that distort the perception of an object or phenomenon that affect any of the sense organs or a group of sense organs at all levels of perception
• Accelerators - symbols that speed up the process
• Special - characters used only for one action
• Vaults
• Burning
• Jumping

By the degree of impact, symbols are divided into:

• Super heavy - symbols affecting the surrounding space at the global level
• Heavy - symbols affecting space at three levels of perception
• Medium - symbols that affect space at the physical level
• Lungs are symbols that do not affect space and are used in simple magic rituals
• Ultralight - Symbols used to record the process without affecting the surrounding space

By the type of spatio-temporal impactsymbols can be:

• Ordinary - general action
• Spatial - actions stretched in space
• Temporary - actions stretched out in time

By exposure levelthey are:

• Positional (physical plane)
• Energy (biological)
• Astral
• Mental

By area of \u200b\u200binfluenceare divided into:

• Elemental - having no direction
• Wave - having direction
• General - local effects

AND by type of impacton:

• Energy
• Information
• Energy information

By function of influencesymbols are divided into:

• Invisible
• Implicit
• Soft, solid
• Self-guiding
• Self-activating
• Self-destructive
• Self-healing
• Transforming
• Binding

Symbol and sign concept, detailed classification

An example of parsing a character:

Pentacle.

Description : A five-pointed star enclosed in a circle. It is used in magic to attract the energy of the earth and concentrate power. The pentacle symbolizes birth and rebirth, although it is often associated with a symbol of evil spirits. But in magic, this symbol is used to protect and control elementary forces, over the forces of the elements and feelings. The pentacle represents these powers. In an inverted state, the pentacle is very dangerous, as it causes negative forces. But this is only one of its types used in magic, there are others as well.

Pentacle by general classification: Artificial graphic concrete magic symbol-concept.

Pentacle refers to the character group of the sign.

1) for its intended purpose, it belongs to the group of protective and reinforcing

2) in terms of the degree of influence - super heavy, - it is one of the most powerful magical symbols,

3) by type of exposure - ordinary,

4) by the level of impact - astral, energetic

5) by area of \u200b\u200binfluence - general,

6) in appearance - energy

7) by the function of influence - self-guiding.

Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation

FSBEI "Buryat State University"

Faculty of Foreign Languages

Department of Translation and Intercultural Communication

Ivankina Elena Olegovna

Differences between the concepts of "symbol" and "sign"

/essay/

Checked:

E.V. Kalenykh

Ulan-Ude, 2013

Introduction 3

Chapter 1. The difference between a symbol and a sign 4

1. Definition of the concept of "sign", its main

characteristics, classification of signs 4

1. Symbol as a kind of sign, difference of sign

from symbol 9

Conclusion 13 List of used sources and literature 14

Introduction

The relevance of this work is explained by the personal interest of its authors to the problem of distinguishing the concepts of "sign" and "symbol", since symbols in a poetic work are the subject of authors' research.

The subject of this work is the difference between a symbol and other types of signs.

The purpose of this work is to identify the differences between the symbol and other signs. In accordance with the set goal, we set the following tasks:

• study theoretical material concerning the concepts of "sign" and "symbol",
• consider the main characteristics of the concepts "sign" and "symbol", identify the differences between a symbol and a sign in general.

When writing this work, we used the works of such researchers as S.S. Averintsev, V.I. Ivanov, A.F. Losev and others.

The work consists of an introduction, one chapter, including two sections, and a conclusion.

In the introduction, the relevance of the topic of the abstract is justified, the goals and objectives of the work, the materials used are determined, the structure of the abstract is indicated.

The first paragraph reveals the concept of a sign, provides a classification of signs.

The second paragraph gives the concept of a symbol, its main characteristics from the point of view of different authors, such as S.S. Averintsev, Yu. Lotman, A. Losev, M. Girshman, V. Ivanov, as well as the differences between the concepts of "sign" and "symbol".

In conclusion, summarized conclusions are given regarding the differences between the concepts of "sign" and "symbol".

The list of used literature contains sources.

Chapter 1. The difference between a symbol and a sign

1.1. Definition of the concept of "sign", its main characteristics, classification of signs

The concept of a sign is studied not only in linguistics, but also in all other fields of science.

Any object, its property or feature can be a sign of something, therefore there can be an infinite number of signs, and they can be so different from each other that they cannot be combined into one general classification, no matter how detailed it is.

The definition of a sign as a part of a certain message can be represented as follows: the addressee is presented not with the object of the message itself, but with a certain representative, allowing to recognize this object. Such a representative of the subject will be a sign. At the same time, Yu.S. Maslov notes the difference between a syndrome that the recipient can interpret in his own way, and a sign that is given to the recipient deliberately, in order to communicate any specific information.

Thus, we can say that any systems of means used by a person for the purpose of exchanging any information are sign or semiotic systems, and they obey certain rules.

The addressee must understand the sign he uses, and the sign must be perceived in some way, that is, it must be a material object. The meaning acquired by a sign under certain conditions can be both a real object, phenomenon, and a fictional thing, an abstract concept.

F. de Saussure in his writings calls a sign not only "signifying", but also "signified", speaking of the two-sided essence of the sign. In this case, “signifier” will be the form or “plane of expression”, and “signified” will be the “plane of content”, content, meaning and meaning. Signs include words, awards, road signs, money, signals, gestures, etc.

The structure of the sign is closely related to concepts such as denotation and concept. Denotat is a content plan, a collection of all objects designated by a sign. As for a concept or a plan of expression, it is a collection of information about an object denoted by a certain sign and its relationships with other objects. This is both the information carried by the sign and the body of knowledge about the object and phenomenon indicated by this sign.

Usually one sign corresponds to one meaning, and one meaning - one denotation. However, there are signs that coincide in shape, but designate different objects or phenomena. This phenomenon is called "homonymy" - the coincidence of signs denoting different entities. Along with homonymy, there is also a synonymy of signs - a phenomenon in which, on the contrary, several signs correspond to one denotation. These phenomena are characteristic not only for natural languages, but also for any other sign systems.

According to A.A. Reformed, if we compare a sign and a thing, the sign has the following features:

1. the sign must be material, that is, like any thing, it must be accessible to sensory perception;
2. the sign does not matter, but it is directed towards the meaning, for which it exists, therefore the sign belongs to the second signaling system;
3. unlike the content of a thing, the content of a sign does not coincide with its material characteristics;
4. the content of a sign is determined by its distinctive features, which are distinguished and separated analytically from the nondiscriminating ones;
5. a sign and its content are determined by the place and role of a given sign in a given system of a similar order of signs.

In addition, the sign has certain properties. These include:

1. intentionality: a sign is purposefully used to convey a certain meaning;
2. two-sidedness - the presence of an ideal side - meaning, meaning, - and a material side - a form perceived by any sense organs;
3. conventionality: the name is based various subjects in different words, for example, there is a certain agreement;
4. conditionality: a sign does not exist in isolation, it is part of its own sign system.

As for the large number of classifications of signs based on differences in form, content, the relationship between form and content and other parameters, the classification based on the typology of the relationship between form and content, Charles Sanders Peirce, is considered a classic, which divides signs into three groups: icons, indices and symbols.

Any sign, according to Charles Pierce, has the following main characteristics:

1. material shell;
2. the designated object;
3. rules of interpretation set by man.

Thus, icons (or iconic signs) are signs whose form and content are qualitatively or structurally similar, that is, the plane of expression is similar to the plane of content. For example, a painting depicting a battle or a battle plan are iconic signs if the battle itself is considered their content. It can also be portraits, photographs.

Indices (or index signs) are signs whose form and content are relatively similar, that is, adjacent in space or in time.Examples of indices are road signs, as well as smoke indicating the presence of fire, symptoms of a disease that suggests itself disease. In this case, it is more correct to talk about the presence of certain causal relationships between the sign and the designated object. In addition, personal and demonstrative pronouns and some other pronouns (I, you, this, here, now, etc.) are traditionally referred to as index linguistic signs.

Symbols (or symbolic, conventional, conventional signs) are signs for which the relationship between form and content is established arbitrarily, by agreement concerning this particular sign, that is, the plan of expression has nothing to do with the plan of content.

As for iconic and index signs, here the form of the sign allows even an addressee who is not familiar with it to guess its content. The form of symbolic signs by itself does not give any idea of \u200b\u200bthe content. In such cases, according to F. de Saussure, we are talking about the unmotivated choice of the signifier or the absence of a natural connection between the signified and the signifier. For example, the subtraction sign "-" is in no way connected with the arithmetic operation itself: neither similarity, nor contiguity, nor cause-and-effect relationships. Their connection is arbitrary, that is, it is determined by a special agreement stipulating the use of the corresponding symbol to convey a given meaning. Most linguistic signs refer specifically to symbols, allowing us to talk about the arbitrariness of a linguistic sign. For example, there is nothing in common between the English word "glasses", the French "lunettes" and the Russian "glasses", but they all mean the same thing.

It should be borne in mind that the arbitrariness of the symbol does not mean the freedom to choose the form of the sign, since within the framework of one sign system this choice is limited: for example, in English, the corresponding meaning is expressed only by the word "glasses", the very connection between the signified and the signifier is arbitrary, established and determined linguistic convention, not some natural reason.

However, languages \u200b\u200balso contain words whose content is similar to their form. Such words are iconic signs. These words are onomatopoeia, or ideophones: “meow-meow”, “br-rr”, “apchhi”, “cock-a-doodle-doo”, “splash”, etc. Not only one word can be an iconic sign ... So, according to R.O. Jacobson, the word order in the phrase “I came, I saw, I conquered” is iconic, since the word order repeats the sequence of the indicated actions.

1. 2. A symbol as a kind of sign, the difference between a sign and a symbol.

As a kind of sign, the symbol, of course, has almost the same signs and properties as other types of sign. However, the symbol also has significant differences from them.

The etymology of this word goes back to the times of Ancient Greece: the word "symbol" comes from the Greek σύμβολα, (from the Greek "sign, identifying omen") which meant half of one plate that fit together along the break line. By adding these halves, people bound by the union of hereditary friendship identified each other. According to S.S. Averintsev, in contrast to the allegory, which anyone can recognize, the symbol can only be deciphered by the "initiates". Thus, the symbol not only unites the subject and meaning, but also people who understand this meaning. This is the meaning of a symbol as a central concept of culture and a sign of cultural identity, since the set of symbols expresses a set of views on the surrounding reality and its conceptualization.

A symbol contains many semantic shades, and, unlike, for example, an image that expresses a single phenomenon, it has a number of meanings, sometimes multidirectional and opposite, but at the same time being a single whole. The poet and theorist of symbolism V. Ivanov believed that a symbol signifies not one, but different essences, A. Bely defined a symbol as "the combination of heterogeneous together." This, according to S.S. Averintsev, the difference between a symbol and a sign: if for a sign system polysemy is an obstacle to the rational functioning of a sign, then in the case of a symbol, polysemy determines its meaningfulness. The multi-layered character is designed for the active work of the perceiver. The meaning in the symbol does not appear as a given, it is given, that is, the meaning cannot be reduced to a certain logical formula, it can be explained with the help of further symbolic linkages, clarifying its rational clarity, but at the same time it is impossible to arrive at pure concepts in its interpretation. According to S.S. Averintsev, a symbol is "an image taken in the aspect of its significance and it is a sign endowed with all the organic nature of the myth and the inexhaustible polysemy of the image."

A.F. Losev connected the symbol with reality as follows:

1. The symbol is a function of reality, which can be decomposed into an infinite number of members spaced at various distances from each other and capable of entering into infinitely varied structural associations.

2. A symbol is the meaning of reality, a reflection that reveals the meaning of what is reflected, and this reflection in consciousness is quite specific and is not limited to what is reflected. But thanks to this property, the reflective not only does not break with the reflected, but, on the contrary, allows one to penetrate deeper into the reflected, which is not accessible to its external sensory reproduction.

3. A symbol is an interpretation of reality, its specific processing, that is, this or that understanding of reality.

4. A symbol is a signification of reality: it must denote reality, that is, in some way be reflected back into reality.

The concept of a symbol is of great importance in aesthetics. A symbol has the ability to evoke a multitude of representations with an ordinary sign, without passing, like an allegory, into the sphere of the abstract; it acts on consciousness, on feelings, that is, it acts aesthetically. Therefore, the rich symbols of life are not only adopted by art and, in particular, poetry, but also further expanded. The symbol is a further enhancement of the image or metaphor; he does not simply replace one representation with another, homogeneous representation, but gives a representation with richer content than the original one.