signans Linguistics and Semiotics.
(ˈsɪgnænz)
[L., pr. pple. of signāre to signify.]
= signifiant. Opp. signatum.
| 1953 C. E. Bazell Linguistic Form 29 Multiple oppositions, rare or unknown in the signans, are normal in the signatum. 1954 Litera (Istanbul) I. 31 In a code, each discrete signans has a discrete signatum; for instance in the Morse code a certain combination of dots and dashes signifies a certain combination of strokes and points. 1956 Jakobson & Halle Fundamentals of Lang. i. ii. 15 The ‘expression plane’ of language, as he christened the aspect named signans in Stoic and Scholastic tradition,..is to be studied without any recourse to phonetic premises. 1959 Jrnl. Individual Psychol. XV. 62 The signans is perceptible, the signatum intelligible... Thus we perceive the sound-shape of the word tree and, on the other hand, we may translate this word by other verbal signs with more or less equivalent signata but each with a different signans. |