Types of signs

Signs can take many forms. They can be words, numbers, sounds, photos, paintings, traffic signs, etc. However, although signs can be many things, they can be classified into various types, but before going into it, it is first important to understand their definition.

What is a sign?

From a general point of view, signs are referred to as those entities or phenomena that we can use to represent and/or substitute specific referents. In other words, a sign is something that we can use to replace another object, that is, we can use it to evoke it when it does not exist, or we can infer its existence, because every sign has a certain identity relationship with its referent.

What are the types of signs?

Indicator icons and symbols

Signs can be of different types: visual, linguistic, auditory, etc. It depends on the nature of its signifier. Even natural and artificial, depending on whether they are generated by nature or by human intervention. However, according to the theory of the American Charles Peirce (1839-1914), according to the relationship between the signifier and the signifier, they can be divided into three categories

• The icon is physically similar to what it refers to and represents. A photo is a good example, because it should be similar to everything it portrays, for example the photo of your cat.
• The sign or indicator shows evidence of what is represented. A good example is the use of images of smoke to represent fires.
• The symbol has no similarities between the signifier and the signified. The connection between them must be learned culturally. Numbers and letters are good examples. The number 9 has nothing inherent to show what it represents. It must be learned culturally.

In the following graph you can see the ideas raised above perfectly referenced.

Types of signs examples

Musical signs

Moment, moment, if you are a teacher or a parent who educates at home, I take advantage of the fact that we are talking about the different types of signs and I recommend that you go through some good resources that we have on our portal, such as graphic resources for coloring and images of the solar system , which will surely be useful to you.

They are graphic representations that allow you to compose music and give precise patterns to create melodic sounds. The most used musical symbols are: musical notes, rests, key, key signature and compass.

Types of zodiac signs

They are all one of twelve equal parts, into which the zodiac is considered to be separated. According to astrology, each constellation of the zodiac represents a basic human personality and the constellation corresponding to each person depends on the date, time and location of the star on the day he was born.

The zodiac signs are: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces.

Types of punctuation marks

They are signs used to explain and define written expressions. They help structure the text and distinguish the main point from the supporting point. Punctuation marks are: period, colon, comma, quotation marks, semicolon, parentheses, brackets and curly braces, diacritics or cream, hyphen, hyphen, ellipsis, exclamation mark, question mark, etc.

Math sign

They are all those that are used to represent the operations or properties of quantities. The mathematical symbols for basic operations are: “+, -, x, /”.
There are many other symbols that are used for more complex mathematical operations.

Some history

These signs go hand in hand with human evolution. The essential difference between a symbol and a sign is that the latter can be understood not only by humans but also by animals; the symbol is different, it can only be explained by humans, because it is a combination of different signs.

In the first stage, humans begin to make sounds and write graffiti and pictures to show off their ingenuity; from there, they continue talking. It is this type of oral communication that promotes the invention and creation of signs, and responds to the needs of human beings to preserve their thoughts and ideas.

Human beings have developed different forms of communication, such as the use of cave paintings, signs, symbols, known codes and other ways of deciphering through continuous research.