ABSTRACT
Linguistics.—The major models of meaning or signification involve different types of signs (→MEANING AND SIGNIFICATION). Icons are signs whose signifier represents the referent in an analogical way. The analogy is conventional and icons are always canonical. Natural languages do not have iconic signs (except for certain ideographic writing systems), but iconism is highly present in linguistics. In cognitive semantics, for example, iconic representations of linguistic meanings are abundant, and the choice of this graphic metalanguage is often based on the assumption that cognitive space is an abstract display of visual space (→REPRESENTATION, SEMANTICS, SPACE). Indexes are signs whose meaning can be determined only relative to a real communication situation or one represented in a text (→COMMUNICATION, CONTEXT AND SITUATION, TEXT). Natural languages do not have genuine indexes, but rather indexical signs like demonstratives, possessives, pronouns, and all signs used for deictic purposes.
