Once again on the parallelism between expression and content

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article revisits the idea of parallelism between the two semiotic planes – expression and content – focusing on two seemingly contradictory analogies found in the structural literature, namely expression figuræ : sign expressions :: content figuræ : sign contents and phonic features : phonemes :: semantic features : signifieds. It is shown that, though it may not seem to be the case at first glance, both analogies describe the same types of relations and can be regarded as equally valid from the point of view of their respective theoretical frameworks and levels of analysis. However, a functional synthesis of the two views ultimately reveals an asymmetry in the categorical structure of the two planes, a situation that is explained by the nature of the relationship between expression and content.