Metareference from a Semiotic Perspective

Abstract

The paper examines the semiotic foundations of metareference, the differences between verbal and nonverbal, explicit and implicit, symbolic, indexical, and iconic metareference, and distinguishes between metasigns, metaphors, connotative, and self-referential signs. The thesis is developed that only verbal signs can explicitly express that they are metasigns, whereas nonverbal signs can only do so implicitly. Paintings can only implicitly show that they are paintings, music can only implicitly represent that it is music. ‘Performative metareference’ is defined as a metasign which states, shows, or indicates that a semiotic act is being performed, that a speaker is speaking, a writer is writing, a painter is painting, a musician is performing a piece of music, etc. With reference to several of the figures of thought distinguished by ancient rhetoric, which are performatively metareferential, a semiotic framework for the study of performative metareference in verbal, nonverbal, and visual communication in the arts and the media is outlined.