General language

General language

Use this category for general terms related to languages.

Contributors in General language

General language

Most broadly, this term is used to refer to anything which can be 'read' for meaning; to some theorists, 'the world' is 'social text'. Although the term appears to privilege written texts (it seems ...

Textual codes

Language; General language

Whilst many semiotic codes are treated by some semioticians as 'textual' codes (reading 'the world' through the metaphor of a 'text'), this can be seen as forming one major group of codes, alongside ...

Empty signifier

Language; General language

An 'empty' or 'floating' signifier is variously defined as a signifier with a vague, highly variable, unspecifiable or non-existent signified. Such signifiers mean different things to different ...

Epistemology

Language; General language

A branch of philosophy concerned with the theory of knowledge. The term refers to how 'the world' can be known and what can be known about it. Realism, idealism and constructivism are all ...

Dyadic model of sign

Language; General language

A dyadic model of the sign is based on a division of the sign into two necessary constituent elements. Saussure's model of the sign is a dyadic model (note that Saussure insisted that such a ...

Erasure

Language; General language

Derrida adopted from Heidegger the strategy of writing 'sous rature' which involved printing a word with crossed lines through it, leaving the original word legible, thus: Being. This was intended to ...

Episteme

Language; General language

Foucault uses the term episteme to refer to the total set of relations within a particular historical period uniting the discursive practises which generate its epistemologies.