The University of Chicago :: Theories of Media :: Keywords Glossary
   ::  symbol-index-icon

   Johansen, Jorgen Dines (1988). "The Distinction between Icon, Index,
   and Symbol in the Study of Literature," Semiotic Theory and Practice,


   Notes
   symbol, index, icon 

   Created by American polymath Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914), the
   symbol/index/icon triad remains a tool of analysis at the core of
   semiotics, a discipline which studies signs and their meanings. As


   communication (including the non-deliberate and the non-human),
   symbol/index/icon analysis is now used throughout many disciplines.

   Peirce (pronounced purse) originally developed the symbol/index/icon
   triad as one component in a massively complex formal system of


   (Johansen 2002, 5). Of Peirce's many ways of distinguishing signs, the
   symbol/index/icon triad focuses on the relations of signs to their
   objects: symbols have a convention-based relationships with their


   influenced by their objects (e.g. a weathervane or a thermometer); and
   icons have specific properties in common with their objects (e.g.
   portraits, diagrams) (Johansen 2002, 51). Even at this basic level,


   photograph: it has properties in common with its object, and is
   therefore an icon; it is directly and physically influenced by its
   object, and is therefore an index; and lastly it requires a learned


   As each term is considered in greater detail, keep in mind that as a
   completly abstract system, the symbol/index/icon triad applies equally
   to any and all media or form of communication, prefering none over


   computer keyboard is a symbol, as are those things not specifically
   alphabetic or numeric: $, %, &, #, @, etc. Unlike indices or icons,
   the symbols are not signs without an interpreter or "reader."


   Originally called "likenesses" by Peirce, icons have a "topological
   similarity" to their object (Sebok 28). Classical paintings and


   similarity" to their object (Sebok 28). Classical paintings and
   photographs are obviously icons, as they visually resemble their
   objects. This resemblance need not be tangible: "every algebraical


   objects. This resemblance need not be tangible: "every algebraical
   equation is an icon, in so far as it exhibits, by means of the
   algebraical signs (which are not themselves icons), the relations of


   equation is an icon, in so far as it exhibits, by means of the
   algebraical signs (which are not themselves icons), the relations of
   the quantities concerned" (Peirce 107). Along these lines, Peirce


   the quantities concerned" (Peirce 107). Along these lines, Peirce
   creates three subcategories of icon: image, metaphor and diagram.
   Images share "simple qualities" or "sensory qualities" with their


   broader: the thermometer previously described as index can also be
   described as metaphoric icon: there is a parallelism in the
   translation of heat into an increased volume of the mercury column.


   While symbols required interpretants and indices required their
   objects, icons have no such requirements. Peirce uses the example of a
   Euclidian diagram: streaks of pencil lead can represent a geometric


   Under a Peircian analysis, the visual aid itself is not dyadic, but
   triadic. The tree is an icon, "arbor" is a symbol, and everything else
   (the oval, the arrows, the midline) are indices which direct the


   Peirce's overall semiotic approach. Beyond the examples already
   provided, Peirce interpreted the symbol/index/icon triad through many
   other analytic triads. These interpretations and comparisons are not


   as they appear frequently in Peircian literature. A few examples, with
   terms ordered to express congruencies to symbol/index/icon: the
   legisign/sinsign/qualisign triad organizes signs by relation to their


   concepts abstracted away from all media. Not coincidentally, Peirce
   viewed the symbol/index/icon triad as "the most fundamental division
   of signs," and the majority of semioticians continue to agree


   The University of Chicago :: Theories of Media :: Keywords Glossary
   ::  symbol-index-icon