which relates to casuality effect. For instance, the smoke for fire. The last is symbol. Symbol is the sign which personates the sentence,
written text or language. According to Peirce, symbol is the category of arbitrary and conventional signs. For example is the word of
Bhineka Tunggal Ika. In Indonesia, it is the phrase that has a rich symbolic meaning. But for people who have different cultural
backgrounds, such as Eskimos, Bhineka Tunggal Ika refers simply as the ordinary phrase.
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4.3 The Third Trichotomy
According to the nature of the interpretant, a sign is either a rheme, a dicent, or an argument. This trichotomy corresponds to the old
division of logic. The rheme is the probability for interpretant such as a concept. The dicent is the fact of interpretant or the real description of
a thing. For example is a descriptive statement. Then, argument is a logical reasoning of interpretant or a sign of law. The law that the
passage from all such premises to such conclusions tends to the truth. For example is a proposition. While a dicent only affirms the existence
of an object, the argument proves its truth according to the agreement or convention of society.
31
30
Ibid.
31
Ibid ., p. 45.
Table 1: Peirces Trichotomies of Signs 4.4 Ten Principal Classes of Signs
Since every sign is determined by its three correlates, and there are three ways in which every correlate may be characterized, as
summarized in table 1. However, some of the possible combinations are semiotically impossible. For example, a qualisign can be only
iconic and rhematic and an index cannot be an argument.
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The semiotically superfluous characterizations are placed in parentheses:
1. Rhematic Iconic Qualisign, for example: a feeling of red. 2. Rhematic Iconic Sinsign: an individual diagram.
3. Rhematic Indexical Sinsign: a spontaneous cry. 4. Dicent Indexical Sinsign: a weathercock.
5. Rhematic Iconic Legisign: a diagram, apart from its factual individuality.
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Ibid.
