Perception, conception and linguistic reproduction of events and time

the category of verbal aspect in the light of C.S. Peirce's theory of signs

Nils B. Thelin

pp. 257-273

in: Guy Debrock, Menno Hulswit (eds), Living doubt, Berlin, Springer, 1994

Abstract

Recent developments towards cognitive-procedural models of linguistic functions and their integration with pragmatic conditions (cf. Thelin 1985) may, in important respects, be said to have been anticipated by Charles S. Peirce's theory of signs. Representing in essence a pragmatically based theory of cognition (Fitzgerald 1964), Peirce's teleological, triadic understanding of semeiosis (Savan 1976; Parret 1983; Shapiro 1983), and more specifically, his concept of INTERPRETANT as a mental activity of interpretive translations mediating between SIGN and OBJECT, expressed indeed an advanced hierarchical-operational view of the systemic relations between expression-form and content-form in language.

Cited authors

Peirce Charles Sanders