Semiotics in Guru Nanak’s Hymns

Semiotics in Guru Nanak’s Hymns
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/sikh-sikhi-sikhism/32451-semiotics-in-guru-nanak-s-hymns.html
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=32451
Col Dr Dalvinder Singh Grewal


Language is a system of signs. Ferdinand de Saussure defined semiotics “as a general science of all signs or symbol systems by means of which human beings communicate”[i] and ‘Semilogy of communication deals with international signs whose main function is communication’[ii]. Mounin defined it as “the science of sign or symbol systems by means of which human communicate.”[iii]



Semiotics also called semiotic studies or semiology, is the study of signs and symbols as elements of communicative behavior; the analysis of systems of communication, as language, gestures, or clothing. It is a general theory of signs and symbolism, usually divided into the branches of pragmatics, semantics, and syntactic.[iv] Semiotics, is the study of sign processes ( ), or signification and communication, signs and .[v]
Semiotics is the thus the study of signs and signifying practices. It is largely the creation of the
Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure and the American pragmatist Charles Sanders Peirce.
Independently, they worked to better understand how certain structures were able to produce
meaning rather than work on the traditional matter of meaning itself.

Saussure's work on semiotics is better known, and he argued that there was no inherent or
necessary relationship between that which carries the meaning (the signifier, usually a word
or symbol) and the actual meaning which is carried (the signified). For example, the word
"car" is not actually a car - the meaning of car could be carried by any random string of
letters. It just so happens that, in English, that meaning is carried by the letter c-a-r.

Peirce's ideas about semiotics distinguished between three types of signs: icon, index and
symbol. Whether a sign belongs in one category or another is dependent upon the nature of
its relationship between the sign itself (which he called the referent) and the actual meaning.
An icon is a meaning which is based upon similarity or appearance (for example, similarity in
shape). According to Pierce, icons are "the only means of directly communicating an idea." An
index is a meaning based upon some cause and effect relationship (for example, a weathervane
carries certain meaning because of the wind): "Because the indexical sign is understood to be
connected to the real object, it is capable of making that object conceptually present." [vi]

Finally, a symbol carries meaning is a purely arbitrary way - this is the way natural
language carries meaning. Saussure's system is appropriate to language and texts, for the most
part, but Pierce's has a wider application, including not just language but also the visual arts.
An important concept in semiotics is that signs and meaning are unlimited. Called "unlimited semiosis," this principle makes it clear that one sign or set of signs can take the place of some other sign or set of signs in a theoretically infinite process. If this were not possible, then artists would eventually run out of signs with which to carry meaning, and that would be the end.

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1. As quoted by Jeane Martinet, Paris in “What is semiotics?, Pakha Sangam, Punjabi University Patiala , Vol. VI, 1973, p.93.

[ii] Op. cit,

[iii] Op. cit,

[iv] http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/semiotics

[v]Jeam Martinet, “Elements of General Linguistics”.

[vi] On line dictionary Wikipedia, Semiotics

 
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