Re: [ontac-forum] Semantics and Ontology ? and semiotics?

Thanks Azamat
Well, it does not happen often  that fragments of such old lecture notes 
can be referenced meaningfully in a conversation.

So, if I understand you right, while semiotics can be seen as  a branch 
of semantics concerned with the meaning of signs,   for the purpose of 
our ontology  study semiotics can be defined as 'semantics' in the  
broader sense of the word.   I guess in binary code there is no 
distinction between   words and a signs, but I wonder if at application 
level where data is expressed as natural language  a conceptual 
distinction could be of value.
I think I am going to brush up  my old notes
Thanks for the clarification

PDM

>
> <Paola Di Maio>... To me semantics is the meaning of words, and 
> semiotis is the meaning of non verbal communication, ie signs and 
> symbols.
> Please correct me where I am wrong,
>
> Paola,
>
> It was nice to hear from you, and i am glad that you enjoyed the 
> company of Umberto Eco, who used to explain the complexitities of 
> semiotics, meanings and ambiguity by fictional works, like The Name of 
> the Rose.
>
> As for the issue you arose, both versions have right to exist. In a 
> narrow sense, Semantics is a linguistic branch caring about the 
> language significance (linguistic signs), while in a broader meaning, 
> it is what i suggested below.
>
> [Semantics is aimed to provide a general theory of meaning relations 
> between signs, constructs and things, assigning signification to 
> syntactic structures and meanings to conceptual structures.]
>
> At this level, we still abstracted from the pragmatic aspects of 
> meaning, i.e., the user of the language (the agent of communication, 
> interpretant); for the production of meaning as well as the processes 
> whereby an agent (animal, human or robot)  assigns signification to 
> signs more relate to empirical sciences such as psycholinguistics, 
> history, anthropology.
> Adding pragmatical and syntactic dimensions, you come to semiotics 
> studying the nature of signs, which are generally of three sorts 
> (natural, mental and cultural (conventional)), as it was discussed 
> before: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sign.
>
> Regards,
> Azamat
>
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Received on Thursday, 25 May 2006 22:17:08 UTC