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Signs of Signification

Part of the book series: ICME-13 Monographs ((ICME13Mo))

Abstract

This introductory chapter presents an overview of the role of semiotic issues in the teaching and learning of mathematics, as these issues are characterized and elaborated in the chapters of this monograph. Several threads are represented in the four sections of this book: the evolving sociocultural perspective is addressed in Sects. 1 and 4; Sect. 2 addresses linguistic and textual aspects of signification, and Sect. 3 represents Peircean perspectives that were recognized as important in our field more than two decades ago, which continue to have relevance.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    A note on terminology: The term “sign vehicle” is used here to designate the signifier, when the object is the signified. Peirce sometimes used the word “sign” to designate his whole triad, object [signified]-representamen [signifier]-interpretant; but sometimes Peirce used the word “sign” in designating the representamen only. To avoid confusion, “sign vehicle” is used for the representamen/signifier.

  2. 2.

    Husserl distinguished two aspects of signs, namely expression and indication (Husserl 1970; Zagorianakos 2017). It is beyond the scope of this monograph to explore the implications of Husserl’s phenomenological distinction here; however, both of these aspects of signs are highly relevant in the issues addressed in this book. Expression relates to intention and the grounding of ideation, whereas indication relates to communication and is the essence of semiotics.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Mathematics Department, Illinois State University, 5160, Candlewood Court, Maryville, TN, 37804, USA

    Norma Presmeg

  2. École des sciences de l’éducation, Université Laurentienne, Sudbury, ON, P3E 2C6, Canada

    Luis Radford

  3. Applied Cognitive Science, University of Victoria, MacLaurin Building A567, Victoria, BC, V8P 5C2, Canada

    Wolff-Michael Roth

  4. Department of Mathematics, Alpen-Adria Universitaet Klagenfurt, Universitaetsstrasse 65, 9020, Klagenfurt, Austria

    Gert Kadunz

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  1. Norma Presmeg
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  4. Gert Kadunz
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Correspondence to Norma Presmeg .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Illinois State University , MARYVILLE, Tennessee, USA

    Norma Presmeg

  2. Faculty of Education, Université Laurentienne Faculty of Education, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada

    Luis Radford

  3. Faculty of Education, University of Victoria Faculty of Education, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

    Wolff-Michael Roth

  4. Fakultät für technische Wissenschaften, Institut für Mathematik, Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt, Klagenfurt, Austria

    Gert Kadunz

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Presmeg, N., Radford, L., Roth, WM., Kadunz, G. (2018). Introduction. In: Presmeg, N., Radford, L., Roth, WM., Kadunz, G. (eds) Signs of Signification. ICME-13 Monographs. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70287-2_1

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