SIGNS AND SYMBOLS

 FROM SAMPATH’S DESK:

 


 

SIGNS AND SYMBOLS

  

Signs and symbols have their origin from time immemorial as the mode and medium of communication before the advent of languages. Needless to say, signs and symbols transcend linguistic barriers.

 

Signs and symbols help communicate local and global messages. Today, they are ubiquitously used across the world. The vehicular traffic and rules of the road signs and symbols are such a unique lot that they speak even louder than words and effectively convey the intended concepts and ideas including the DOs and DON’Ts.

 

Before the regular spoken/written languages came into being, people must have used some type of area/region-specific sign language. Sign language is a visual language using hand shapes, facial expressions, gestures, and body language. They have their own specific and special vocabulary, construction features, and presentation techniques for effective communication in the absence of language(s). There are many sign languages across the world, which are used by and for hearing and speech-challenged people. The sign language news bulletins are a typical example that keeps the hearing impaired updated on the current regional and global events, and unfolding developments besides feeding information of sorts.

 

A sign or symbol shortly symbolizes a subject matter or theme, representing its soul, spirit, substance, and/or a sum up to keep the hearing-challenged in good stead.

 

Symbols are visible signs and shadows of impending yet unseen realities in the system and/or the ones in the pipeline. It’s also a clever art of surreptitiously and stealthily conveying your message(s), good or bad, at times and if needed, only to the intended specific person(s) a little away by sign(s) - through the eye(s), hand(s), and facial expression(s) instead of words of mouth to evade and elude others. Of course, one who cannot comprehend a sign is not a shrewd person.

 

Skip not, slip not, skid not, stop not; with deciphering acumen, you will have clear insights into what is sought to be conveyed.

 

Robert H Schuller said, “Problems are not stop signs; instead, they are guidelines.”

 

Philosophically, simplicity is an outward sign and symbol of the depth of thought and knowledge.

 

Share your smile with the world. It’s a symbol of friendship and peace because the transitory life is too precious to be wasted by remaining unhappy, and keeping yourself aloof and your face stiff. 


The Indian Sign Language (ISL) dictionary currently contains around 10000 terms, representing a single sign language used widely across the country, though some regional variations do exist; this dictionary is published by the Indian Sign Language Research and Training Centre (ISLRTC), Delhi.

 

Even nature speaks in signs and symbols of beauty aplenty.

 

We have a myriad of symbols in the realm of mathematical formulae, statistics, data compilation, collation, correlation, research and analyses, including other important intellectual and dynamic fields.

 

To quote Isidore of Seville, “Letters are signs of things, symbols of words, whose power is so great that without a voice they speak to us the words of the absent; for they introduce words by the eye, not by the ear.” An interesting interpretation indeed! Isn't it?

 

 

 

R.SAMPATH

29/1/2025

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