Semiotics

Regarding a sign as any object for which a significance is associated, semiotics studies in natural and artificial languages the properties of sign systems and their sign contents. Three aspects are considered. In syntactics no interest is taken in meaning, only the construction system for joining signs (in sentences, etc.) is studied. Semantics, on the other hand, studies the relationship of signs to meanings. In pragmatics the focus is on the characteristics and psychology of the receiver or observer of signs (the addresses), and the phenomenology of interpretation including the valuation of the sign system as a carrier for meaning. Different sign systems in natural and artificial languages can be uniformly studied using semiotics, and the same heuristic methodology leads to revealing the sign or signing character of non-linguistic human behaviour in society (e.g. dress, table manners, etc.). The disciplines of semiotics assist creation of computer languages in indexing and recording data for retrieval. Semiotics particular contribution is to allow descriptions for logically 'permitted', classes or items encompassing probabilities, and for decision-making situations. Beyond this, semiotic approaches have facilitated computer translation, indexing and abstracting of texts.