A Sample Sign System
Language is a system that follows this pattern. As we have noted, words are signs of the SYMBOL type. This class of signs refers to their objects by virtue of some convention. The word "HORSE" is not a horse, but refers to a specific animal with particular attributes that by convention, is referred to as a horse.
Other words may be used to describe other aspects of a horse. BROWN, TALL, SWAYBACK, etc.. Western riding apparel or horse manure are also signs of a horse, However, these would be indexes- because they do not represent a horse by similarity or convention, but rather through some causal link.
The words HORSE and BROWN both
have their own similar attributes which have nothing to do with the object-
HORSE. They both contain 5 letters. They also have additional
attributes, one is a noun, the other an adjective, that are independent
of both the object and each other.
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