Symbols include Art, Dance, Music, Ritual and Language

• What, then, distinguishes the symbols of language from those of art, music, dance and rituals?

• Four features in particular make language symbols different (although, not necessarily better). These include:

  • 1. Language has a lexicon (vocabulary) in which there is a one-to-one relationship between a symbol (word) and its referent (a thing in the world). The word "table" can be identified with an object.

  • 2. The Symbol/Referent bond in language is arbitrary.
    
    
  • 3. It is possible in language to have many symbols for the same object. Table (in English), Mesa (in Spanish), Stol (in Russian {pardon the English script}) all mean the same thing.
    
    
  • 4. The symbols of language can be used to discuss language. This is referred to as meta-language.

  • Symbols (as well as signs) can be classified into two qualitatively different types: Discursive and Presentational.

  Previous slide

  Next slide

  Back to first slide

  View graphic version