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PRAGMATIC SIDES OF SYMBOL IN THE TEXT LANGUAGE
Sharipova Dilnoza Shavkatovna
Senior teacher, Bukhara State University
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.11194840
Abstract.
The article deals with the pragmatic sides of the symbol text
language. It states that each type of communication needs some information for
intercourse as well as virtual communication. The virtual communication is
realized through some language means either a written or a verbal form. The
article mainly underlines the importance of new communication means such as
symbol texts in the written discourse and gives some information about the
origin of the term too. The author uses some symbols in some situations and
explains their pragmatic meanings in the contexts. The article drew the attention
to the terms used by Saussure F.de., such as signifier and signified. It states that
the signs are considered to play a crucial role in the pragmatic sides of the
symbol text language.
Аннотация.
Данная статья повествует о прагматических сторонах
текстового языка эмоджи. Она указывает, что каждый тип коммуникации
так же как и виртуальное общение нуждается в некой информации для
общения. Виртуальное общение осуществляется посредством как
письменных средств языка так и его устных форм. Статья, в основном,
подчеркивает важность новых средств связи, таких как эмоджи тексты в
письменном дискурсе и дает информацию также о происхождении
данного термина. Автор использует некоторые эмоджи в ситуациях и
объясняет их прагматические значения в контекстах. В статье было
уделено внимание терминам, употребляемым Ф. де Соссюром, такие как
знак и означаемый. Указывается, что знаки играют большую роль в
прагматических сторонах текстового языка эмоджи.
Key words:
communication, purpose, virtual, symbol, information,
meaning.
Ключевые слова:
коммуникация, цель, виртуальный, символ,
информация, смысл.
Communication, including virtual communication, requires information. The
implementation of virtual communication is carried out through language in
written and oral form. Any linguistic unit (sentence, text, written and oral
speech) and non-linguistic means (graphemes, grapheme combinations,
prosodic means - syllable, stress, intonation, pause, etc.) are considered virtual
media. Participants in virtual communication are sure to use one of these tools
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to make communication two-way in the communication process. Meaning and
content are important in communication. Of the linguistic units used in
communication, the word is the smallest unit that has meaning. During virtual
communication, one word, one sign can create an idea. Let's read the text of the
message written in English on the phone:
A: I love you very much. And you? ‗I love you very much? And you?'
B:
. The symbol “a hand with two fingers folded” means “I love you
too,” and the symbol “two connected hearts” means “our love is mutual”
[2, 13].
Communication takes place when the sender's purpose is clear. One of the
main conditions for information exchange is the form of information transfer. In
contrasting types of new media discourse, symbols like the ones above, signs
that express emotions, can create a complete idea. By increasing the number of
such signs, the meaning and content can be made more complete and clearly
expressed. For virtual communication to take place, there must be focused text.
As K. Abdullaev wrote, until recently, an independent and separate sentence was
considered as the last unit of the syntactic level from the point of view of
hierarchical relations. It is this deficiency, existing at the syntactic level, that led
to the emergence of text linguistics [1, 19]. It is known that there are three
stages of syntax: traditional syntax, communicative syntax and structural syntax.
Conventional and communicative syntax includes larger linguistic elements,
namely syntactic units and text. For this reason, a sentence can be considered
the smallest linguistic unit and the main means of expressing thoughts. K.
Abdullaev shows that a sentence is not the final, but the middle unit of a
syntactic system and that it can interact with other sentences with its
isomorphic and homomorphic parameters, and considers this aspect the
cornerstone of text linguistics [1, 19].
In the new media discourse, the use of signs and signifiers, which have
already been defined as a new type of communication, is inevitable, along with
units of the syntactic system within various texts. It is known that a writing
system develops through the expansion of modality or style of writing. The
modality of the early writing system was mainly in the form of icons. Iconic
shapes are created and used to represent a concept through similarity. For
example, the sun icon represents the sun as it is, etc. These systems are also
evolving to expand their scope, such as new symbols being created to reflect
specific elements or other social needs, etc. First comprehensive study sign
systems was carried out by C. S. Peirce [5, 1-8]. Before J. Pierce's research, the
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term "icon" was used to refer to copies of scary figures. It should be noted that
this term can still be used as such today. Religious icons mostly depict religious
figures, but each figure has special, distinctive details. Facial expressions on
religious icons generally reflected somberness and piety, as these icons were not
considered true copies of their referents. Religious icons were mostly drawn as
sketches or caricatures. Examples include the Altamira carving in Spain or the
Lascaux carving in France.
These carvings predate the earliest forms of writing by about 30,000 years. In
addition to signs expressing emotions in new media discourse, one of the most
common forms of communication are symbols, which are often found in Internet
texts. The study of symbols is considered one of the most pressing topics of
recent times. The word "character" is a combination of the Japanese word
"emoji" [
絵文字
] e- and moji. E- is used in English as an image, and Moji is used
as a letter or symbol. Thus, the word symbol means “image-word” [2, 2].
Each symbol used in written texts has its own meaning. The Cloud symbol (
☁
) is a drawn pictographic shape of a cloud. The Sun symbol () depicts the
ideographic shape of the sun rising from the horizon. The stylistic characteristics
of symbol modality are meaning, color and perspective. The value reflects the
darkness or lightness of the form. It should be emphasized that value plays a key
role in describing contrasts across species. For example, in the “cloud” symbol,
which we described above in parentheses, the color is given in the color of the
cloud, that is, gray and white. The rising sun symbol depicts the sun rising over
the horizon, etc.
M. Danesi writes that symbols are designed to ensure the understanding of
written texts in the global world [2, 3]. For example, take the "face" symbols or
the "smiling faces" symbols. The facial expressions depicted in the character
system are designed to be relatively neutral. The colors of the faces depicted in
the symbols are shown in yellow. The use of yellow was used to avoid
identifying racial or ethnic differences, that is, to eliminate similar facial
features. The roundness of facial shapes, reflected in the symbols, is intended to
reduce the features of the facial structure. Indeed, observations suggest that new
symbols can be created that reflect explicit cultural meanings. The characters
"nerd" and "sleuth" require certain cultural expressions to understand the
words "nerd" and "sleuth". Based on the frequency of triggering, some symbols
are considered active, and some are considered passive. For example, “slightly
frowning” and “smiling faces” are considered active symbols, since they are
quite often used in symbolic texts, messages and other Internet correspondence,
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and “robot face” (robot fac), that is, the use of the symbol The symbol “dumb
face” cannot be considered active. Although the signs have already become
generally accepted symbols in different parts of the world, their interpretation is
limited to different variations.
This limitation includes the age of the symbol users and their geohistorical
origin. Each symbol has its own pragmatic meaning. The term “pragmatics” is a
Greek word meaning “work, action, influence.” Pragmatics studies the
relationship between a subject who accepts and applies a sign system and this
sign system. The name of the pragmatic aspect of symbolic texts is understood
as the impact on the addressee (recipient) of all its constituent elements,
linguistic means, and speech techniques. Providing information to the recipient
also has an impact on him. Speech influence at this time does not act as a
component of communication, it is combined with it, and, finally, the pragmatic
aspect of language becomes its communicative function. At the same time, the
influence of a text using symbols is considered inseparable both from the
content-semantic language means reflecting the author’s intention, and from the
content-semantic characteristics of the text using symbols in the act of
communication. For this reason, it is necessary to differentiate the pragmatic
aspect during written communication. To attract the attention of the recipient, it
is necessary to organize communication, express the social relations of the
communicators, and also carry out an impact. In all these indicators, the main
goal is to achieve the necessary propensity to communicate.
The main purpose of using symbols in a text is to convey the main nuances
conveyed to the reader. Message symbols give additional influence to the
meaning of written texts and expand the meaning [4, 5].
L. K. Olson and K. A. Finegan asked a group of young people the following
question: “Why do you use symbols?” The answer was: “To make our messages
more interesting and engaging. And also to more clearly convey the expression
of our face when writing a message to our reader and friend” [4, 6]. In short,
symbols are used to give oral expression and meaning to written text. Let's
create this situation: [Sona texts Nahida on the phone] Sona: Are we going out
tonight like we planned yesterday? “Shall we go for a walk tonight like we
planned yesterday?” Sorry for not warning you in advance. “Well, I'm a little
tired and I'd rather stay at home. Sorry for not warning you in advance. Sona:
Okay. No problem. Any other day. ‗Sona smiles and writes: Done. No problem.
One more day."
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Sona shows that she agrees with Nahida by adding a "smile" symbol to her
message. On the contrary, if he wanted to go to Sona, then in response to Nahida
he would have written: . You could let me know in advance. Sona gets angry,
frowns and writes: “That’s it. But you could have warned me in advance. By
adding the "angry face" symbol to his text, he expresses his dissatisfaction with
the situation. In texts, symbols have neither a substitutive nor a decorative
function. They have the function of combining a modern informal writing style
with an alphabetic style [3, 45].
M. Danesi writes: “The use of symbols must be taken quite seriously” [2, 17].
There is a fact that during the trial of a man, the St. Petersburg police presented
the judge with a text with three symbols as evidence. Reading the symbols in the
message written by the prisoner proved that he had planned the robbery in
advance and used symbols to convey his goal to the readers. The person who
sent the message was shot during a robbery and was in a coma for five days.
When the robber woke up, he admitted that the symbols he used were a sign
that he was about to participate in the robbery and would possibly die in the
incident. The symbols used were: the image of a running man (), the symbol of
an explosion () and a pistol () [2, 18]. Symbols are signs used in written texts.
Recently, interest in the study of the semantics of signs has increased. There is a
connection between a sign and its meaning and meaning. The sign has a
meaning, and the meaning corresponds to that meaning. But meaning includes
more than just a sign. F. de Sessure was one of the first to comment on the
nature and essence of the sign. He writes: “Language is a system of signs, and
linguistics can be considered as part of semiotics” [6, 15].
Symbols, defined as signs, can be expressed in the language of F. de Saussure:
“Symbols are part of social life.” One meaning can mean different things in
different languages as well as in the same language. Symbols are used to convey
purpose, mood and state of mind. They are overt signs of our thinking and
behavioral intentions. Nowadays, symbols, which are often used in texts and
Internet messages, are considered a type of communication that conveys
information to the reader and listener by reflecting clear, expressive, emotional
feelings.
References:
1. Abdullayev K.A. Text as an independent field of linguistics // Complex
syntactic entities in the Azerbaijani language. Baku: Mutercim, 2012.
2. Danesi M. The Semiotics of Emoji. London: Bloomsbury Academic Publishing
Plc., 2017.
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3. Ekman P. Methods for Measuring Facial Action. In K.R. Scherer and P. Ekman
(eds.), Handbook of Methods in Nonverbal Behavior. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1982.
4.Olson L. C. And Finnegan C. A. Visual Rhetoric: A Reader in Communication
and American culture. London: Saga, 2008.
5. Peirce Ch. Collected Papers of Charles Sanders Peirce. Vols. 1-8. Edited by C.
Hartshorne and P. Weiss, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1931-58.
6. Saussure F.de. Cour de linguistique generale. Paris: Payot, 1916.
