Interpretant

Interpretant is a technical term from semiotics and thus belongs to the vocabulary of philosophy. The interpretant translated as an aid to understanding the signifier, bringing in an increase in knowledge by Designated the translated characters in regards to the signified clarified.

Examples of interpretant are drawings foreign-language explanations, textual explanations or synonyms. They support the interpretation of a character, that is, the signifier "house" may by the synonym " building ", the foreign-language version "house" or the drawing of a house replaced or supplemented, which further features of the character are revealed. For example, the drawing shows how the house looks, or translate into a foreign language is also someone who is powerful is the German language is not clear what is the meaning of the sign " house".

An interpretant is thus an explanation for a character. So would the caption "Space Shuttle Discovery at startup" under a picture of the space shuttle Discovery at the start of an interpretant, because for someone who has never seen the Space Shuttle, but heard of it, can assign these two pieces of information, which may be without the Caption would not be possible.

In recent accounts of the semiotic triangle (including with Charles Peirce and Umberto Eco) the interpretant takes the place of the speaker.

• See also: semiosis

• Semiotics