SEMIOTICS OF SIMILES IN ENGLISH POETIC TEXTS OF CANADIAN POETRY

Abstract

The article reveals linguistic, cognitive and semiotic characteristics of simile in English poetic texts of Canadian poetry. Cognitive peculiarities of simile are defined via cognitive and semiotic operation of comparison and reconstruction of concepts and conceptual metaphors which underlie it. The cognitive operation of comparison is aimed at obtaining new knowledge as a result of matching homogeneous or heterogeneous comparable entities. Linguocognitive operations of analogical and narrative mapping are derived from the basic cognitive operation of comparison. Linguocognitive operations of attributive, relational, systems mapping are aimed at clarifying the basis of comparison, which establishes the similarity between subject and object of the simile. Semiotic peculiarities are clarified via identification of cultural codes and word-symbols which are represented in subjective and objective parts of similes. Thus, I view simile as a multifunctional linguistic and semiotic construal representing verbal patterns of form and semantic function. Linguistic and semiotic analysis of similes enables their classification into iconic, indexical and symbolic ones. The semiotic classification of similes is premised on the type of semiotic relation that exists between a “sign vehicle” and its meaning. Iconic similes are based on similarity between a sign and its referent, while indexical similes show relations of contiguity. Symbolic similes are differentiated on the basis of conventional pairing of a signified and a signifier within a simile.