Legisign is a term adopted by Charles S. Peirce to denote a particular type of sign or sign function, namely one in which a rule or law of the general serves as a sign vehicle.
The word is an example of Legisign.
Throughout his life, Charles S. Peirce tried to construct a comprehensible and systematic classification of signs. The Trinity consideration is at the heart of what is perhaps the most successful attempt at such a classification. This conception is based on the very nature of the sign defined by Peirce: Something (thing-in-itself), meaning something else (called its object) and awakening an interpretant.
Therefore, the signs can be considered in themselves, in relation to their objects, and finally, in relation to their interpretants.
These three divisions create three trichotomies:
- The sign, considered in itself, can be a quality and respectively a qualitative sign (qualisign), a single event, respectively a single sign (sinsign) or a rule and hence a common sign (legisign).
- The sign considered in relation to its object can be iconic, indexical, or symbolic.
- The sign considered in relation to its interpretant is a rheme, dicent, or argument.
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