SYMBOL AND REFERENT
Symbol is a mark or character used as a conventional representation of an object, function, or process. A symbol is a person or a concept that represents, stands for or suggests another idea, visual image, belief, action or material entity. Symbols take the form of words, sounds, gestures, ideas or visual images and are used to convey other ideas and beliefs. Something that represents something else by association, resemblance, or convention, especially a material object used to represent something invisible. Mark, sign, or word that indicates, signifies, or is understood as representing an idea, object, or relationship. Symbols allow people to go beyond what is known or seen by creating linkages between otherwise very different concepts and experiences. All communication (and data processing) is achieved through the use of symbols.
In the book Signs and Symbols, it is stated that a symbol ... is a visual image or sign
representing an idea -- a deeper indicator of a universal truth. Symbols
are a means of complex communication that often can have multiple levels of
meaning. This separates symbols from signs, as signs have only
one meaning. Human cultures use symbols to express specific ideologies and
social structures and to represent aspects of their specific culture. Thus,
symbols carry meanings that depend upon one’s cultural background; in other
words, the meaning of a symbol is not inherent in the symbol itself but is culturally
learned.
Symbols are the
basis of all human understanding and serve as vehicles of conception for all
human knowledge. Symbols facilitate understanding of the world in which we
live, thus serving as the grounds upon which we make judgments. In this way,
people use symbols not only to make sense of the world around them, but also to
identify and cooperate in society through constitutive rhetoric.
Referent is a person
or thing to which a linguistic expression refers.
The referent is the
concrete thing that’s being referred to, so an actual chair would be the referent of the word chair. The referent of words such as table or building is pretty clear, but some referents are more abstract,
like for the words happiness or
danger. The word referent is handy in grammar-land,
when you’re trying to figure out how words are being used in a sentence. Also,
Frankenstein’s monster could be the referent of monster, experiment
gone wrong, or big green guy.
For example, in the sentence Mary saw
me, the referent of the word Mary
is the particular person called Mary who is being spoken of, while the referent
of the word me is the person
uttering the sentence.
Two
expressions which have the same referent are said to be co-referential.
In the sentence John had his dog with
him, for instance, the noun John and
the pronoun
him are co-referential, since
they both refer to the same person (John). In fields such as semantics
and semiotics,
a distinction is made between a referent and a reference.
Reference is a relationship in which a symbol
or sign
(a word, for example) signifies something; the referent is the thing signified.
The referent may be an actual person or object, or may be something more
abstract, such as a set of actions. A referent is the concrete object or
concept that is designated by a word or expression.
References:
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