Language in a semiotic frame: An introduction

Abstract

Language can be studied in many ways one of which is linguistics. Although the term ‘linguistics’ came into being rather recently, its history has had many convergences with and divergences into many other fields at different periods in time over the past 2,500 years or so. The present introduction is to recapitulate some of the highlights, on the one hand, and to introduce the contributions of this volume that have come out of the Second International Conference on the Language Sciences held at the International Christian University from August 22nd to 23rd 1982, on the other, with the theme of Language in a Semiotic Frame which is also the title of this volume. It is anticipated that whatever linguists and semioticians do in the future about language, this volume will always be referred to as an important source book for years to come, because it contains many changes by throwing away the views and practices that are considered ‘outmoded’ and inadequate while maintaining those which are still valid and useful.