Semiotic systems with duality of patterning and the issue of cultural replicators

Abstract

Two major works in recent evolutionary biology have in different ways touched upon the issue of cultural replicators in language, namely Dawkins' Selfish Gene and Maynard Smith and Szathmáry's Major Transitions in Evolution. In the latter, the emergence of language is referred to as the last major transition in evolution (for the time being), a claim we argue to be derived from a crucial property of language, called Duality of Patterning. Prima facie, this property makes natural language look like a structural equivalent to DNA, and its peer in terms of expressive power. We will argue that, if one takes seriously Maynard Smith and Szathmáry's outlook and examines what has been proposed as linguistic replicators, amongst others phonemes and words, the analogy meme-gene becomes problematic. A key issue is the fact that genes and memes are assumed to carry and transmit information, while what has been described as the best candidate for replicatorhood in language, i.e. the phoneme, does by definition not carry meaning. We will argue that semiotic systems with Duality of Pattering (like natural languages) force us to reconsider either the analogy between replicators in the biological and the cultural domain, or what it is to be a replicator in linguistics.

Persuasive Strategies and Video Games: An Insight into Age of Empire III

“…The semiotic textures of the video game are the structural game design which is experienced by player. The video game is a process aswell place symbols generate cognitive resonance in players (Schaden, Patin, 2018).…”

“…Visuals represent modes in different contexts such as actions, visual, written, verbal, gestural and three dimensional aspects of video game in an interactive way. Meanings of modes and signs in video games are interrelated with social semiotics (Schaden, Patin, 2018). This study focuses on the cooperation of modes and signs in visual manifestation.…”

The Myth of The Annular Lipids

“…We can now understand how “annulus” worked, in the 70′s and 80′s of the past century, as an “avant la lettre clickbait”. For a formal philosophical treatment of memes and related language elements, see the Schaden and Patin’s 2017 discussion [ 32 ].…”

Bringing Darwin into the social sciences and the humanities: cultural evolution and its philosophical implications

“…The article by linguists Gerhard Schaden and Cédric Patin, ''Semiotic systems with duality of patterning and the issue of cultural replicators'' sheds light on an ambiguity that arises from a memetic approach to the evolution of language, namely what should be regarded as the linguistic meme: phonemes, the basic units in language that do not carry meaning, or morphemes, the basic units that do. They consider the implications for the evolution of language (Schaden and Patin 2017).…”