Abstract
“Significs” is provisionally defined by Welby (1911: vii) as the study of the nature of significance in all its forms and relationships, of its workings in all spheres of human life and knowledge. Considering “significs” as a movement highlighting significance, Welby explores the action of signs in life; and more than the Saussurean sign composed of signifier and signified, the sign as understood by Welby refers to meaning as generated through signs in motion. This notion of “significs” empowers the study of signs when it considers the sign not in terms of the Saussurean structural representation of the union of the concept and acoustic image, but as (responsive and responsible) sign action in the world, in life. This also means to take into account the “extra-linguistic referent” (translinguistic and transdiscursive character of significs), history (space-time), subjectivity, the architecture of values connected to language, their communicative function. We believe that a dialogue can be established between Welby's vision of significs and the notion of ideological sign proposed by Vološinov in Marxism and the Philosophy of Language, expanding the notions of “meaning” and “sense.”
About the authors
Grenissa Bonvino Stafuzza (b. 1979) is a professor at Universidade Federal de Goiás 〈grenissa@gmail.com〉. Her research interests include discourse analysis, critical discourse, institutional discourse, and philosophy of language. Her publications include “Análise do discurso literário: Das vozes de Homero em Joyce” (2011); and “SLOVO: O Círculo de Bakhtin no contexto dos estudos discursivos” (2011).
Luciane de Paula (b. 1975) is a professor at Universidade Estadual Paulista 〈lucianedepaula1@gmail.com〉. Her research interests include discourse analysis, philosophy of language, semiotics, and song. Her publications include “Da Análise do Discurso no Brasil à Análise do Discurso do Brasil: três épocas histórico-analíticas” (2010); “A ‘Palavra’ Poética de Arnaldo Antunes” (2010); “O marxismo no/do Círculo de Bakhtin” (2011).
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