Week 1

Question 1

In which order to signified and signifier come in de saussure’s structuralist view of language?

Answer 1

signified on top, signifier on the bottom

Question 2

What is signified?

Answer 2

the concept

Question 3

What is signifier?

Answer 3

the mental representation of a sound pattern

Question 4

Define sentence

Answer 4

a string of words whose well-formedness are specified by grammar

Question 5

Define utterance

Answer 5

use of a sentence by a particular speaker, on a particular occassion

Question 6

What is a proposition?

Answer 6

the meaning of a declarative sentence (description of a state of affairs) - either true or false

Question 7

In a clockwise order explain the points of the semiotic triangle

Answer 7

Sign (the word e.g. mouse), extension (set of all the mice in the world), concept (the visual representation)

Question 8

The extension of the predicate cow is

Answer 8

the set of all cows in the universe