Skip to content
EveryLingua All languagesDictionary
Sign in
EN
DEDeutschENEnglishESEspañolFRFrançaisITItalianoPTPortuguêsHIहिन्दीZH中文JA日本語KO한국어TRTürkçePLPolskiUKУкраїнськаNLNederlandsARالعربية

C2  ·  23 words

Semiotics in Italian

How something comes to mean something else.

Practise this list

From these 23 words, as many per round as you like — up to all of them: first what is due today, then new ones. First you choose, then you fill the gap, then you write it yourself. Mistakes come back again shortly.

More about this list

The seventeenth entry is il marchio come segno, and the English word for the same object took a road no Italian word took. « Brand » began as fire. In Old English brand was a flame, and then the burning stick pulled out of one; from there came the verb, to burn a mark into a hide or a cask, and only in the nineteenth century did that scorched mark come to stand for the maker behind the goods. Italian named the same object from the other end. Behind il marchio lies the Germanic marka, a boundary and the sign that shows one, which is also the word that gave English its own « mark ». So the two languages are cousins in one word and strangers in the other: our « trade mark » is il marchio almost letter for letter, while « brand » has no Italian relative at all. The fire survives in Italian only in the verb, marchiare a fuoco, and there it is never commercial. It is livestock, or a reputation nobody can scrub off.

The words

Noun (m) (12)

Grammar for these: Definite article: il, lo, la · Indefinite article: un, uno

il significantethe signifierNoun (m)C2
Il significante è la parte che si sente o si vede.The signifier is the part that is heard or seen.
il piano del contenutothe plane of contentNoun (m)C2
Il piano del contenuto non sta nel suono.The plane of content does not lie in the sound.
l’oggetto di riferimentothe referentNoun (m)C2
L’oggetto di riferimento può anche non esistere.The referent may not exist at all.
il simbolothe symbolNoun (m)C2
Il simbolo funziona solo per chi conosce la convenzione.The symbol works only for someone who knows the convention.
il codicethe codeNoun (m)C2
Senza codice condiviso il segno resta muto.Without a shared code the sign stays mute.
il sintagmathe syntagmNoun (m)C2
Il sintagma è la catena, non la scelta.The syntagm is the chain, not the choice.
il mitothe mythNoun (m)C2
Il mito trasforma una scelta in una cosa ovvia.The myth turns a choice into something obvious.
l’ancoraggio testualetextual anchorageNoun (m)C2
L’ancoraggio testuale sceglie una lettura fra molte.Textual anchorage picks one reading out of many.
il marchio come segnothe brand as a signNoun (m)C2
Il marchio come segno vale più della cosa che copre.The brand as a sign is worth more than the thing it covers.
il quadrato semioticothe semiotic squareNoun (m)C2
Il quadrato semiotico aggiunge il contrario e il non.The semiotic square adds the contrary and the not.
l’atto linguisticothe speech actNoun (m)C2
Ogni atto linguistico ha condizioni per riuscire.Every speech act has conditions for succeeding.
l’enunciato performativothe performative utteranceNoun (m)C2
L’enunciato performativo non descrive: fa.The performative utterance does not describe: it does.

Noun (f) (11)

Grammar for these: Definite article: il, lo, la · Indefinite article: un, uno

la codificathe encodingNoun (f)C2
La codifica scelta limita già che cosa si potrà dire.The encoding chosen already limits what can be said.
la decodificathe decodingNoun (f)C2
La decodifica del pubblico non ripete quella dell’autore.The decoding done by the audience does not repeat the author’s.
l’opposizione binariathe binary oppositionNoun (f)C2
L’opposizione binaria semplifica e per questo convince.The binary opposition simplifies, and that is why it persuades.
la marcatezzamarkednessNoun (f)C2
La marcatezza dice quale dei due termini è quello normale.Markedness says which of the two terms is the ordinary one.
la naturalizzazionenaturalisationNoun (f)C2
La naturalizzazione cancella le tracce di chi ha deciso.Naturalisation erases the traces of whoever decided.
l’immagine polisemicathe polysemic imageNoun (f)C2
Un’immagine polisemica ha bisogno di una didascalia.A polysemic image needs a caption.
la grammatica dell’immaginethe grammar of the imageNoun (f)C2
La grammatica dell’immagine distingue chi guarda e chi è guardato.The grammar of the image distinguishes who looks from who is looked at.
la direzione dello sguardothe direction of the gazeNoun (f)C2
La direzione dello sguardo dice al lettore dove stare.The direction of the gaze tells the reader where to stand.
la pragmaticapragmaticsNoun (f)C2
La pragmatica guarda che cosa si fa dicendo.Pragmatics looks at what is done by saying.
la comunità interpretativathe interpretive communityNoun (f)C2
La comunità interpretativa rende una lettura ovvia per tutti.The interpretive community makes one reading obvious to everybody.
la lettura preferenzialethe preferred readingNoun (f)C2
La lettura preferenziale è offerta, non imposta.The preferred reading is offered, not imposed.

Back to the quiz ↑

Missing a word? Look it up in the dictionary

This list belongs to Language and expression — 22 lists and 872 words that can also be practised as a whole.

Hear and recognise these words in the listening trainer