General language

General language

Use this category for general terms related to languages.

Contributors in General language

General language

Signifiers which are absent from a text but which (by contrast) nevertheless influence the meaning of a signifier actually used (which is drawn from the same paradigm set). Two forms of absence have ...

aesthetic codes

Language; General language

Codes within the various expressive arts (poetry, drama, painting, sculpture, music, etc.) or expressive and poetic functions which are evoked within any kind of text. These are codes which tend to ...

affective fallacy

Language; General language

The so-called 'affective fallacy' (identified by literary theorists who regarded meaning as residing within the text) involves relating the meaning of a text to its readers' interpretations - which ...

analogical signs

Language; General language

Analogical signs (such as paintings in a gallery or gestures in face-to-face interaction) are signs in a form in which they are perceived as involving graded relationships on a continuum rather than ...

analogue oppositions

Language; General language

Pairs of oppositional signifiers in a paradigm set representing categories with comparative grading on the same implicit dimension and which together define a complete universe of discourse (relevant ...

anchorage

Language; General language

Roland Barthes introduced the concept of anchorage. Linguistic elements in a text (such as a caption) can serve to 'anchor' (or constrain) the preferred readings of an image (conversely the ...

arbitrariness

Language; General language

Saussure emphasized that the relationship between the linguistic signifier and signified is arbitrary: the link between them is not necessary, intrinsic or 'natural'. He was denying extralinguistic ...