Semiotics and linguistics . By Yishai Tobin. London & New York: Longman, 1990. Pp. xiii, 289.

Abstract

Part 1 In search of the sign - an historical overview: the Saussurian background - linguistics and semiotics as separate disciplines, the historical connection between linguistics and the sign-oriented approach sign versus sentence - semiology versus semiotics, linguistics as part of a search for a sign-oriented method, defining linguistic semiotically, defining the linguistic sign. Part 2 Invariance - an overview: invariance and language synergy - defining language semiotically, defining language synergetically, meaning versus message, meaning versus message and function, language synergy from the sign-oriented approach, the synergetic relationship between encoders and decoders, the synergetic relationship between signals and meanings, the synergetic relationship between lexicon and grammar invariant meaning - variations on an invariant theme - sign versus sentence-oriented definitions of language, invariance in linguistic theory reviewed, invariance in Jakobsonian theory, invariance in Guillaumean theory, invariance in Diverian theory, the concept of grammatical number, postulating invariant meanings for the dual number, the Jacobsonian approach, the Guillaumean approach, the Diverian approach. Part 3 From sign to system - markedness and distinctive feature theory: the dual number - to the sign to system - the dual number - grammar or lexicon?, number systems across languages, the dual number in modern Hebrew, the distribution of the dual in the lexicon, the dual number and the communication factor, the dual number and the human factor, the interaction of the human and communication factors, the plural versus the dual in spoken and written discourse, the creative use of the dual in a literary text If versus Whether - duality revised - the non-synonymy hypothesis, the analysis - invariance and markedness, the data. Part 4 From sign to text: sign - system - context - text working our way up Also versus Too - the sign as a text - the problem, the analysis - invariance and markedness, the data - Alice in wonderland, the data - Looking for Mr Goodbar, discussion and conclusion, the non-synonymy hypothesis, the non-homonymy hypothesis, word order and iconicity, other non-traditional approaches to the problem. Part 5 From text to sign: text - context - system - sign working our way down the English comparative system - the text as sign - presenting the problem semiotically, traditional analyses of the problem, the data, the micro-level analysis, the macro-level analysis, and Curiouser (Alice in the Wonderland), Darlingest (social disease), Worse-worser-worst (summer whine), the distribution of the forms.

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