The Semiotics of Culture and Language

Book excerpt: Semiotics - the study of the general principles of signs and sign systems – is crucial to an understanding of human nature, both social and psychological. The sign systems that we use for interaction with other living beings determine our potential for thought and social action, and language is central among them. It is the implicit claim of this two-volume work that linguistics has something very specific to give to semiotics, and many would further claim that relational network models of language in particular, i.e. systematic and stratificational linguistics, have a fundamental contribution to make.