And unless icons (iconic signs), which signify their close resemblances to things they refer to, all other signs in most part, are in a sense arbitraries and the onomatopoeia is symbolic (i.e. sound symbolism whose pronunciation suggests it meaning). Thus it is said to be that all the communication forms like sounds, gestures, icons, symbols, etc. must signify their signs to denote their referents.

   And unless icons (iconic signs), which signify their close resemblances to things they refer to, all other signs in most part, are in a sense arbitraries and the onomatopoeia is symbolic (i.e. sound symbolism whose pronunciation suggests it meaning). Thus it is said to be that all the communication forms like sounds, gestures, icons, symbols, etc. must signify their signs to denote their referents.

   This process is reversed in the receiver. The neutral mind acquires the sign. It recovers from memory the object normally associated with the sign and this produces the interpretant. This is the experience of intelligibility or the result of an act of signification (not necessarily as the signified in the sense intended by Saussure). When the second sign is considered, the initial interpretant may be confirmed, or new possible meanings may be identified. As each new sign is addressed, more interpretants may emerge. It can involve a mind's reading of nature, its icons (signs which are signs by resemblance to their objects) and its indices (signs by factual connection to their objects) as well as symbols (signs which represent by interpretive habit independent of resemblance or factual connection to their objects).

   Peirce also refers to the “ground” of a sign. The ground is the pure abstraction of a quality.^[6] This is the respect in which the sign represents its object, e.g. as in literal and figurative language. For example, an icon presents a characteristic or quality attributed to an object, while a symbol imputes to an object a characteristic either presented by an icon or symbolized so as to evoke a mental icon.

   Peirce also refers to the “ground” of a sign. The ground is the pure abstraction of a quality.^[6] This is the respect in which the sign represents its object, e.g. as in literal and figurative language. For example, an icon presents a characteristic or quality attributed to an object, while a symbol imputes to an object a characteristic either presented by an icon or symbolized so as to evoke a mental icon.

   Peirce also refers to the “ground” of a sign. The ground is the pure abstraction of a quality.^[6] This is the respect in which the sign represents its object, e.g. as in literal and figurative language. For example, an icon presents a characteristic or quality attributed to an object, while a symbol imputes to an object a characteristic either presented by an icon or symbolized so as to evoke a mental icon.