The Arbitrariness of the Sign

Workshop orgnanized by  Jean-Yves Beziau

Federal University of Rio de Janeiro – UFRJ
Brazilian Academy of Philosophy - ABF
Brazilian Research Council  - CNPq

 

Theme: 

The topic of this workshop is THE FIRST PRINCIPLE stated in the second section of the first part of the Course in General Linguistics: THE ABRITRARINESS OF THE SIGN.

The workshop will develop discussions according to three perspectives:

  • The details of the formulation of this principle in the Course, its proper place (cf. the following sentence of section 2: "No one disputes the principle of the arbitrariness of the sign but it is often easier to discover a truth than to assign it its proper place"). Discussions about the question of arbitrariness of the sign in works by Saussure before the Course are also welcome.
  • How the arbitrariness of the sign has been formulated and stressed before the Course by other people than Saussure, in particular, but not exclusively, by people of the second part of the XIXth century. Three important names: Boole, Peirce, Bréal.
  • The import and value of this principle and the criticisms it received after the publication of the Course. Special focus will be given on the opposition between arbitrary sign and symbol (as characterized in the Course: "the symbol is never arbitrary; it is not empty, for there is the rudiment of a natural bond between the signifier and the signified") in the context of mathematical and logical languages (visual reasoning), traffic signs and pictograms (cf. Neurath's Isotype), typefaces (cf. the work of Adrian Frutiger).

After the workshop a book with full papers will be prepared with an academic international publisher.

Programme

 

JANUARY 1O

10h40-11h10

Jean-Yves Beziau

Presentation of the Workshop

11h10-11h50

Cecile Mathieu

L’arbitraire du signe ou l’origine d’une polémique

11h50-12h20

Emmanuele Fadda

 « L’arbitraire est-il une « obsession » saussurienne ? A partir de la lecture barthésienne de Saussure »

12h20-13h40

Lunch

13h40-14h10

Annamaria Currea

L’arbitraire du signe comme problématique dans la linguistique genevoise : Ch. Bally, A. Sechehaye et H. Frei

14h10-14h40

Hubert

Kowalewski

Disentangling the web of belief. Metatheoretical status and empirical testability of Saussure’s principle of arbitrariness

14h40-15h10

Andrea Picciuolo,

  L’arbitraire comme « premier principe ». Le débat dans Acta Linguistica 1939-1941 et la glose de Mario Lucidi »

 

15h10-15h40

Coffee Break

15h40-16h10

Ricardo Jardim

Saussure et  la philosophie: Un essai de reconstruction de la théorie de la langue

16h10-16h40

F.Beets

De l’arbitraire du signe aux signes artificiels : Condillac ou l’ancrage linguistique de la science

16h40-17h10

 

Noëlla Schuttel

Derrida et l’arbitraire du signe

 

JANUARY 11

10h40-11h20

Tal Dotan Ben-Soussan

Neurophenomenology of Embodied Symbols – the Case of the Square and the EGG

11h20-11h50

Nimrod

Bar-Am

The Arbitrariness of Signs and the Bankruptcy of the Nature vs. Convention Dichotomy

11h50-12h20

Ioannis Vandoulakis

The Arbitrariness of the Sign in Greek Mathematics

12h20-13h40

Lunch

13h40-14h10

Saloua Chatti

 

On the Asymmetry between the Four Corners of the Square

14h10-14h40

Waldir Beividas

Le principe de l'arbitraire: une épistémologie sémiologique

14h40-15h10

Vassili Penchev

Both necessity and arbitrariness of the sign: information

15h10-16h30

Coffee Break

16h30-17h00

Marcin Sobieszczanski

Les fragments « sur l’arbitraire du signe »

17h00-17h30

Miro Brada

 Psychological and other aspects of the sign's arbitrariness

17h30-18h00

Gianfranco Basti

The Naturalistic Foundation of the Non-arbitrariness of Symbols

 


JANUARY 12

10h40-11h20

Jean-Pierre Desclés

La structuration des signifiés

complexifie la relation signifiant-signifié

11h20-11h50

Oliver Schlaudt

Couturat on semiotics, arbitrariness, and planned languages

11h50-12h20

Francesco Parisi

 

Beyond the arbitrariness of the sign: language (parole) and thought between Saussure and Bergson

12h20-13h40

Lunch

13h40-14h10

Vinicius Claro

 The Arbitrariness Formulation of the sign before Saussure

14h10-14h40

François Nemo

 

Arbitrariness of the sign, arbitrariness of the word, arbitrariness of the morpheme

14h40-15h10

Ludmila Lackova 

 « Quelques remarques sur l’usage du terme « arbitraire du signe »

15h10-15h40

Coffee Break

15h40-16h10

Hamdi Mlika

l'arbitraire du signe et la traduction du CLG en arabe

16h10-16h40

Avinash Pandey

  Exploiting the Arbitrary: The opacity-transparency dynamics in the patterns of language-use of the Nath Panthi Davri Gosavi

16h40-17h30

Jean-Yves Beziau

Conclusion and discussion

 

References:

E.Benveniste, "Nature du signe linguistique", Acta Linguistica Hafniensia, 1 (1939), pp.23-29.

G.Boole, An investigation of the laws of thought on which are founded the mathematical theories of logic and probabilities, MacMillan, London, 1854.

M.Bréal, Essai de sémantique – Science des significations, Hachette, Paris, 1897.

R.Engler, "Théorie et critique d'un principe saussurien: l'arbitraire du signe", Cahiers Ferdinand de Saussure 19 (1962), pp.5-66.

A.Frutiger, Type, sign, symbol, ABC, Zurich, 1980.

D.Holdcroft, Saussure: Signs, system, and arbitrariness, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1991.

J.E.Joseph, "Iconicity in Saussure's linguistic work, and why it does not contradict the arbitrariness of the sign", Historiographia Linguistica 42/1 (2015), 85-105.

C. Lehman, "Arbitraire du signe, iconicité et cercle onomatopéique", pp.107-123 in L. de Saussure (ed), Nouveaux regards sur Saussure - Mélanges offerts à René Amacker, Droz, Genève, 2006, pp.107-123.

O.Neurath, International picture language, Kegan Paul, London, 1936.

C.S.Peirce, Semiotics and significs, edited by C.Hardwick, Indiana University Press, Bloomington, 1977.

M.Serfati, La révolution symbolique – La constitution de l'écriture symbolique mathématique, Petra, Paris, 2005.

P.Swiggers, "L'arbitraire du signe linguistique", Neuphilologische Mitteilungen, 85 (1984), pp.401-404.

 

 

 

 

 

François NEMO
Arbitrariness of the Sign, Arbitrariness of the Word, Arbitrariness of the Morpheme
> read abstract...
Vinicius CLARO
Course in General Linguistics, Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913), Background and Formulation by Michel Bréal (1832-1915)
> read abstract...
Jean-François BEETS
De l’arbitraire du signe aux signes artificiels: Condillac ou l'ancrage linguistique de la science
> read abstract...
Hubert KOWALEWSKI
Disentangling the web of belief. Metatheoretical status and empirical testability of Saussure’s principle of arbitrariness
> read abstract...
Avinash PANDEY
Exploiting The Arbitrary: The Opacity-Transparency Dynamics In The Patterns Of Language Use Of The Nath Panthi Davri Gosavi Community
> read abstract...
Noëlla Patricia SCHÜTTEL
From the Arbitrariness of the Sign to the Trace of a Language
> read abstract...
Marcin SOBIESZCZANSKI
La perspective neuro-médiale de l’arbitraire du signe de Saussure à la lumière de la neurophysiologie de son époque et des recherches actuelles
> read abstract...
Andrea PICCIUOLO
Le débat sur la nature arbitraire du signe linguistique. La thèse d’Émile Benveniste (1939) et la glose de Mario Lucidi (1950)
> read abstract...
Anamaria CUREA
L’arbitraire du signe comme problématique dans la linguistique genevoise: Ch. Bally, A. Sechehaye et H. Frei
> read abstract...
Emanuele FADDA
L’arbitraire est-il une “obsession” saussurienne? A partir de la lecture barthézienne de Saussure
> read abstract...
Saloua CHATTI
On the Asymmetry Between the Four Corners of the Square
> read abstract...
Tal Dotan BEN SOUSSAN
PHASE: from art to neuroplasticity - The case of embodied symbols
> read abstract...
Miro BRADA
Psychological and other aspects of the sign arbitrariness
> read abstract...
Ľudmila LACKOVÁ
Quelques remarques sur l'usage du terme "l'arbitraire du signe"
> read abstract...
Ricardo JARDIM ANDRADE
Saussure et la philosophie: Un essai de reconstruction de la théorie de la langue
> read abstract...
Oliver SCHLAUDT
Signs – arbitrary or operational? Lessons from studies on algebraic logic and planned languages in the work of Louis Couturat
> read abstract...
Jean-Pierre DESCLES
Structuration des significations
> read abstract...
Ioannis M. VANDOULAKIS
The Arbitrariness of the sign in Greek Mathematics
> read abstract...