An Explicatory Overview of Human Communication and Sign Species

This paper is a descriptive, theoretical review of the relationship between human communication and sign species. This explicatory review attempts to look at communication from a semiotic perspective. Communication is perceived in this context as the interaction among individuals or groups; it can be verbal (spoken and/or written) or nonverbal (natural and/or artificial). The tremendous use of signs keeps the flow of delivering and receiving messages going. Admittedly, the natural omnipresence of signs and their artificial abundance block us from admiring their importance in directing our actions or shaping and re-shaping our schemata. One can think of how a driver’s performance would be affected when driving on an asphalted street and on a stony track. Apart from concentrating on the road (and driving) in both instances, the driver would certainly look for artificial signs more in the former, and for natural obstacles in the latter. Therefore, this paper explores the roles of signs in such conditions. First, it provides a brief account of the nature of communication and its rudimentary components: sender, receiver, code, message, medium, context, feedback, and interference. Second, verbal and nonverbal communication modes are discussed to form two main divisions of this article. These subsections draw an outline of the general frame of communication. The goal behind this is to lay the background for understanding the role of the numerous signs in delivering and receiving messages. After that, these are followed by an independent section on sign species and their types, viz.: symbols, icons, indexes, signals, symptoms, names, and numbers. The use of colours and emojis, as forms of informative communication, are reviewed as well. Finally, the last section discusses a few general features relevant to communication and signs. The importance of studying intercultural communication is briefly explored at the end of this overview.