Expression and its functions

pp. 8-23

in: Mohanty, Edmund Husserl's theory of meaning, Berlin, Springer, 1976

Abstract

To be a sign ¹ is to be a sign for something. To be a sign for something is to point it out. But not all signs exercise an additional function of meaning, or giving expression to a meaning. In other words, not all signs are expressions. The concept of sign is wider than the concept of expression, for expressions are also signs inasmuch as the functions of signifying and meaning are interlaced in them. This does not imply, Husserl warns us, that the function of meaning is a species of the function of signifying or pointing out. Though expressions constitute a species of signs, to mean is not a sort of pointing out. The two are totally different functions.