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Global Online Journal of Academic Research (GOJAR), Vol. 2, No. 1, Jan-Feb 2023 
 

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The Ubiquity of Signs 

 

By  

Stella Tonyo Akinola 

 

 

 

Abstract 

Language is a means of human communication that sets man apart from other animals. 

Language gives structure to experience and every other aspect of life. Language, of 

course, is primarily spoken and society is dominated by the spoken form, but for those 

who are unable to speak, communication takes place through signs. This article seeks to 

find out if the society can do without signs and symbols in daily communication. The 

population of sign language users is insignificant as compared to the population of 

persons that use spoken language yet some aspects of society seem to function better 

with signs and symbols. This is a descriptive work and it is qualitative. The instrument 

in operation here is the questionnaire and the theoretical framework hinges on 

Functionalism. Seventy-four (74) respondents took part in this study. This study 

concludes that the society in general cannot function maximally without signs and 

symbols. 

Keywords: ubiquity, signs, iconicity, signals, symbols 

 

Introduction 

Language is essentially a communication system in the sense that it 

associates meaning (i.e. the message) with a set of signs (i.e. the sounds 

or symbols). All linguistic units of expression (sounds, words, sentences) 

are the signs of the objects, entities or states of affairs that they represent. 

There is a relationship between a sign and the entity it stands for. 

Language contributes to the totality of knowledge immensely. It is a 

unifying factor for everything and connects environmental practice with 

knowledge of culture and transmits everything synchronically and 

diachronically among members of a speech community between various 

generations, (Crystal, 2000; Egbokhare, 2011). Language gives structure 

to experiences and establishes and maintains social relations. Language is 

also used to release nervous tension physiologically and psychologically. 

The necessary tool to acquire skills and knowledge is of course, 

language. 

Language can be described as a code which comprises meaningful 

sounds and symbols shared by a speech community for the purpose of 



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communication. The set of sounds and symbols are governed by a system 

and structural rules which permit combination possibilities.  

Ndimele (2006) describes language as a semiotic system that entails the 

use of certain agreed upon symbols or signals to convey meaning, from 

one person to another within a given speech community. This definition 

seems to be all encompassing as it recognizes every variable that make 

up the entity called language. Semiotics investigates the properties of 

signaling systems, both natural and artificial, especially with regard to 

the meanings or messages that they convey. This is the most convenient 

definition for this paper as is bothers on signs, which forms an integral 

part of communication.  

Sign language interpretation can be regarded as semiotic in a sense but 

that has to do with the fact that all simultaneous interpretation – indeed 

all use of language – is semiotic, rather than establishing language in 

opposition to other semiotic systems.  From Ndimele’sperspective, 

linguistic translation, including the simultaneous interpretation of sign 

languages as well as spoken languages, are not as distinct from semiotic 

translation but as subset of the more general category of semiotics. 

Recent findings about sign languages are but one entity in a growing list 

of factors pointing to the inadequacy of contemporary linguistics to 

describe human languages,(Hymes, 1973). Thus, one of the problems to 

be overcome with regard to language is the linguist’s usual conception of 

it. A broader, differently based notion of the form in which we encounter 

and use language in the world therefore is needed. To Hymes, this 

broader view is represented by the term, “ways of speaking” or “the 

ethnography of communication”. 

 Ingram (1977), in his study of sign language interpretation, declared that 

we must combat the assumption that sign languages are not only 

grammatical surrogates of spoken languages, but also that they overlap 

spoken languages semantically.A sign language output may seem easier 

to facilitate than a spoken language output simply because the former is 

easier to fake. An interpreter can always shift into a sign language form 

that is easier for him, but not necessarily more comprehensible.A spoken 

language output, though is not so easy to fake, its flaws become readily 

apparent to the hearer/receptor and an interpreter’s only recourse is to 

complain that interpretation from a sign language to a spoken language is 

a more difficult task. 

Societal pressures being what they are, may have likely established the 

spoken form as the dominant language. It is expected that the greater the 



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linguistic dominance the more likely an interpreter will identify with the 

speakers of the dominant language, rather than with clients speaking his 

“other” language.  

Sign languages use two different modalities, the visual and the gestural. 

Although, the two modalities clearly differ in the production and 

perception of communicative signals, the underlying linguistic structures 

seem to be very similar across both modalities (Meier 2002, 2012, 

Sandler & Lillo-Martin, 2006). Nevertheless, sign languages, retain some 

modality-specific properties that may impact the linguistic structure and 

the cognitive processes underlying the perception and production of 

signed communication. 

First of all, sign languages employ various articulators such as the hands, 

the upper part of the body, the head, and the face to express grammatical 

features simultaneously.Second, sign languages use the geometrical 

properties of the signing space to realize morphosyntactic, semantic and 

pragmatic categories in the three dimensional space (Pfau &Stanbach 

2016). 

Third, sign languages grammaticalize and integrate gestural elements, 

since sign languages and manual as well as non-manual gesture use the 

same modality. As a consequence, the interface between these two 

systems is permeable and leads to a more prominent presence of iconicity 

at different grammatical levels. By contrast, there is much less 

transparency between the signals used in auditory communication and 

their meaning (Schlenkes 2018). Besides these linguistic differences, sign 

languages differ from many spoken languages also in various socio-

linguistic dimensions (Aronoff et al., 2005).  

Problem Statement 

The study of signed languages is of great theoretical interest. By and 

large, claims about what is universal across human languages are based 

on the examination of a relatively small percentage of the world’s 

languages. And signed languages have not been included among that 

small percentage. 

Language whether spoken or signed, is a tool of communication. But this 

tool of communication can sometimes create a communication gap when 

two people do not have a common means of a communication language. 

This is the reason globalization came with a demand for a standardized 

language for international platforms. In-depth studies of signs could 

reveal a great deal about the characteristics of language that are truly 

universal.Signs seem to cut across cultures and languages. Signs have 



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meanings that permeate all languages. Thus, the common means of 

communication we seek for is embedded in signs.  

Conceptual Review 

Signals, signs and symbols, these three related components of 

communication processes found in all cultures have attracted 

considerable scholarly attention because they do not relate primarily to 

the usual conception of words or language.Each is apparently an 

increasingly more complex modification of the former, and each was 

probably developed in the depths of prehistory before or at the start of 

early human experiments with vocal language. 

Signals 

A signal may be considered as an interruption in a field of constant 

energy transfer. The basic function of such signals is to provide the 

change of a single environmental factor in order to attract attention and to 

transfer meaning. A code system that refers interruptions to some form of 

meaningful language may easily be developed with a crude vocabulary of 

dots, dashes or other elemental audio and visual articulations. 

Taken by themselves, the interruptions have a potential breadth of 

meaning that seems extremely small: they may indicate the presence of 

an individual in a room, an impatience, agreement, or disagreement with 

some aspect of the environment or in the case of a scream for help, a 

critical situation demanding attention. Coded to refer to spoken or written 

language, their potential to communicate language is extremely great.It 

seems likely that the underlying opposition between “sign” and 

“background” needs to be invoked and that much of the point of these 

proposals is precisely that they address cultures and persons without 

discussing mode of production or treating social class as a factor in 

change (Hymes, 1978). 

Signs 

While signs are usually less germane to the development of words than 

signals, most of them contain greater amount of meaning and by 

themselves. Ashley Montagu, an anthropologist, has defined a sign as a 

“concrete denote” possessing an inherent specific meaning, roughly 

analogous to the sentence. The most common signs encountered in daily 

life are pictures or drawings, although a human posture like a clenched 

fist, an outstretched arm or a hand posed in like a “stop” gesture may also 

serve as signs. 

Road Signs 



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Road signs are universal. Symbols often get noticed when they are out of 

context, used unconventionally, they convey strong messages. A stop 

sign on the door of a corporation makes a political statement as does a 

camouflage military jacket worn in an antiwar protest. Together, the 

semaphore signal “N” and “D” represent nuclear disarmament – and 

form the well-known peace sign. (Westcott 2008) 

Today, some students have taken to wear pajamas and bedroom slippers 

to class, clothing that was formally associated only with privacy and 

bedtime. Though students might deny it, the outfit defies traditional 

cultural norms and makes a statement. 

Sports signs  

 

These wears are indicative of sports. The flags on the football pitch are 

all signs. A football match goes on for ninety (90) minutes without verbal 

communication. This shows that communication with signs is possible 

across board. 



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The main difference between a sign and a signal is that a sign (like a 

policeman’s badge) contains meanings of an intrinsic nature while a 

signal (like a scream for help) is merely a device by which one is able to 

formulate extrinsic meanings. Their difference is illustrated by the 

observation that many types of animals respond to signals while only a 

few intelligent and trained animals (usually dogs and apes) are competent 

to respond to even simpler signs. 

Symbols 

The world is filled with symbols: sports uniforms, company logos and 

traffic signs are symbols. In some cultures, a gold ring is a symbol of 

marriage. Some symbols are highly functional, stop signs, for instance, 

provide useful instruction. As physical objects, they belong to material 

culture, but because they function as symbols, they also convey non 

material cultural meanings. Some symbols are valuable only in what they 

represent. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Trophies, blue ribbons, or gold medals for example serve no other 

purpose than represent accomplishments. But many objects have both 

material and non-material symbol value.  

A police officer’s badge and uniform are symbols of authority and law 

enforcement. The sight of an officer in uniform or a squad car triggers 

reassurances in some citizens and annoyance, fear or anger in others. 

 



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It’s easy to take symbols for granted. Few people challenge or even think 

about stick figure signs on the doors of public bathrooms. But those 

figures are more than just symbols that tell men and women which 

bathrooms to use, they also uphold the value that public restrooms should 

be gender exclusive. Even though stalls are relatively private, most 

places do not offer unisex bathrooms. 

Symbols are more difficult than signs to understand and to define, 

because unlike signs and signals, they are intricately woven into an 

individual’s ongoing perception of the world. The symbol has been 

defined as any device with which an abstraction can be made. Although 

far from being precise construction, it leads in to profitable direction. The 

abstractions of the values that people imbue in other people and in things 

they own and use, lie at the heart of symbolism. 

In Whitehead’s opinion, symbols are analogues or metaphors (that may 

include written or spoken language as well as visual objects) standing for 

some quality of reality that is enhanced in importance or value by the 

process of symbolization itself. 

Even the destruction of a symbol is symbolic. Effigies representing 

public figures are burnt to demonstrate anger at certain leaders. In 1989, 

crowds tore down the Berlin wall, a decade old symbol of the division 

between East and West Germany, communism and capitalism. 

While different cultures have varying systems of symbols, one symbol is 

common to all languages. Language is a symbolic system through which 

people communicate and through culture is transmitted. Some languages 

contain a system of symbols used for written communication while 

others rely on only spoken and non-verbal actions. Societies often share a 

single language and many languages contain the same basic elements. An 

alphabet is a written system made of symbolic shapes that refer to spoken 

sound. Taken together, these symbols convey specific meanings.Some 



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gestures are nearly universal, smiles often represent joy and crying often 

represents sadness.Shakespeare says, “action speaks louder than voice” 

Iconicity 

The visual-gestural modality of signed languages has greater resources 

for iconic representation than does the oral-aural modality of spoken 

languages. Aside from onomatopoetic representations of sounds (e.g., 

bow-wow, meow), the mapping between form and meaning in the words 

of spoken languages is seldom imagistic; rather, form-meaning mappings 

are typically arbitrary. In contrast, the movement of the two hands in the 

transparent, three-dimensional signing space allows signed languages to 

represent the shape and movement of objects imagistically. Whether in 

sign or speech, the mapping between form and meaning need not always 

be arbitrary, but all languages must allow arbitrary form-meaning 

mappings in order to have lexical items for abstract, non-imageable 

concepts (Meier, 2002). Crucially, whether arbitrary or imagistic, form-

meaning mappings in signed and spoken languages are conventional 

within particular linguistic communities.Rich clusters of related and 

unrelated symbols are usually regarded as icons. They are actuallygroups 

of interactive symbols, like the “brick house” in Port Harcourt, “Aso 

Rock” in Abuja. 

Methodology 

A survey research design method was adopted. The target population 

comprised two groups: students and lecturers in the University of Africa, 

Toru-Orua, Bayelsa State. The study adopted simple random sampling. 

The bulk of the relevant data were collected through questionnaire. A 

questionnaire containing ten (10) items was administered to students and 

lecturers across the four (4) faculties in the University.One hundred (100) 

questionnaires were given out,twenty-five (25) per faculty, out of which 

seven (7) were given to lecturers in each of the faculties and eighteen 

(18) to students in the various faculties as well. Out of one hundred (100) 

questionnaires, eighty-seven (87) were returned, of which seventy-four 

(74) were found useful for the data analysis. Functionalism theory was 

employed in the analysis of data. 

Data Presentation and Analysis 

The data gathered in the course of the study was carefully harnessed and 

analyzed based on the theory of Functionalism which has to do with the 

extent to which a given activity promotes or interferes with the 

maintenance of a system. 



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Demographic Information of Respondents 

The sex and age were the only demographic information that was taken 

from the respondents. The essence is to ascertain the gender and the age 

range of the respondentsso as to validate the data in relation to the 

respondents. This is because the study does not require detailed 

demographic information. The total number of males that took part in the 

study is forty-two (42) while the total number of females is thirty-two 

(32). The implication is that, both genders were satisfactorilyrepresented. 

Thus, there is gender balance. 

Age is another factor that is important to this study. Issues about 

language almost always depend on the age factor. The age range of 

respondentsis between fifteen (15) and above fifty (50). It means that 

there is no gap within the age groups, that is, all the useful, productive 

age groups were fully represented in the study. The level of the student 

respondents was taken not for anything significant but to enable one get 

across all the age groups. Thus, the different age groups were captured 

between 100 level – 400 level. Secondly, it was easier to distribute the 

questionnaires when the students were taking their various faculty 

courses, hence the uniformity of levels across faculties. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Table 1: Distribution of Questionnaires (students) 

S/N FACULTY LEVEL NO. 

OUT 

NO. 

RTND 

1 ARTS & EDUCATION 200 18 16 

2 SOCIAL & MANAGEMENT 

SCIENCES 

300 18 14 

3 SCIENCES 400 18 16 

4 AGRICULTURE 100 18 18 

TOTAL   72 64 



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Table 2: Distribution of Questionnaires (lecturers) 

S/N FACULTY NO.  

OUT 

NO. 

RTND 

1 ARTS & EDUCATION 7 7 

2 SOCIAL & MANAGEMENT SCIENCES 7 5 

3 SCIENCES 7 5 

4 AGRICULTURE 7 6 

TOTAL  28 23 

 

As clearly stated in Tables 1 and 2, a hundred questionnaires were given 

out to students and lecturers but eighty-seven (87) were returned and 

seventy-four (74) were found useful for the analysis of the data. 

Data Analysis 

This paper is an attempt to find out if the world can do without signs in 

communication, since prominence is given to the verbal form of 

language. Sign language may not necessarily be the use of signs but it 

uses more of signs and gestures. People tend to live their daily lives 

without actually acknowledging the place of signs and symbols in 

communication. We encounter signs and symbols on daily basis in our 

interaction with the world especially in public domains yet sign language 

is seen as inferior to spoken language. Thus, this paper regards the use of 

signs as a part and parcel of sign language.  

The first item in the questionnaire which has to do with what sign 

language is, received an interesting response.73% of the respondents 

agreed that any language that uses visual modality to convey meaning is 

a sign language including non-verbal communication. Thus, the 

respondents view road signs, laurels, uniforms, traffic lights, gestures, 

etc.,as part of sign language. 

The implication is that virtually all the respondents are conversant with 

what signs and symbols are, which is attributed tosign language. It means 

that there are other significant modes of communication other than 

spoken and written forms and these tend to be in close association with 

sign language. That is, sign language is not strange to the respondents. 

They all have a peripheral idea about sign language but not its 

complexities. 



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Concerning the level of importance of sign language in society, some of 

the respondents are of the view that life can go on smoothly without signs 

and symbols. Signs and symbols are of no importance to the society that 

is free of deaf and dumb persons. Precisely,87% strongly disagree that 

sign language is very important. The respondents think that their lives are 

not connected to sign language in any way. Better still, sign language is 

not involved in their day to day activities since they can speak. That is, 

they strongly disagree on the importance of sign language while an 

insignificant percentage which is about 13% of the respondents agree that 

sign language is very important. 

Other respondents think it is important because of the signs, symbols, 

gestures and the likes encountered on daily basis in their interaction with 

the world. Driving around town, one comes across road signs that give 

direction as to know when, where and how to go. The sea sign is 

indicative of a vehicle that stopped on the road as a result one thing or the 

other. As a matter of fact, when a vehicle breaks down, the driver makes 

attempt to put it in order by calling a mechanic or moves away to look for 

solution. Nobody expects him/her to stand there and continue to flag 

down vehicles to give such information for as long as the vehicle remains 

there. The sea sign, for instance, speaks to everyone driving along a road. 

Little wonder, the road signs are taught before one is allowed to handle 

the steering, hence their importance. 

91% agree that spoken language is the primary mode of human 

communication while 8% are of the opinion that sign language is the 

primary mode.There is no argument as to which of the modes is primary. 

It is obviously the spoken is the primary mode of communication but life 

does not leave a vacuum. So, if there are communication barriers, signs 

take the stage. This implies that communication with signs is possible for 

everyone pending on the situation a person finds himself. 

Some respondents identified the spoken form of language as being 

superior to sign language since the spoken form is the primary mode of 

expression. Others observed that both are forms of communication and 

that no one is superior to the other. This is similar to prescriptive 

linguistics where some languages were seen as being superior to others. 

Today, descriptive linguistics has taken over, thus the question of 

superiority does not exist anymore.The spoken form and the sign form 

are both distinct and they perform communicative roles that are unique. 

Humans, consciously and subconsciously are always striving to make 

sense of their surrounding world. Symbols such as gestures, signs, 

objects, signals and words – help people understand that world. They 



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provide clues to understand experiences by conveying recognizable 

meanings that are shared by societies. Signs and symbols come to play 

here as society searches for universal communication modes. 

Examining the response to this item further reveals that people have a 

negative notion about sign language. They seem to think that it is the 

language for imbeciles, language of the down trodden in the society. 

Thus, the exhibition of negative attitudes. As a matter of fact, they are 

not willing or do not want to have anything to do with signs and symbols 

in communication, since such communication is perceived to be sign 

language. 

People tend to have stigma towards sign language just as the deaf and 

dumb are stigmatized. The stigma towards signed languages is based on 

assumptions, from attitudes and beliefs that signed languages are not 

“real” or full languages. But the tools of linguistics reveal that signed 

languages are just as complex as spoken languages: they have phonetics, 

phonology, morphology, syntax & semantics. Furthermore, neural 

imaging has revealed that users of sign languages recruit the same areas 

of the brain for producing and understanding language as users of spoken 

languages do. 

Safety signs are crucial in any work environment. The primary 

importance of displaying safety signs is to prevent emergencies and 

ensure staff and visitors are well aware of the possible dangers and 

hazards ahead in certain situations and/or environments. Without signs, 

many employees would lack the necessary direction in times of crisis and 

employers might find themselves in significant legal difficulties, if any 

accident arises as a result. 

Conclusion  

Language is constantly evolving as societies create new ideas, in this age 

of technology. Even while it constantly evolves, language continues to 

shape our reality.Symbols tend to appear in clusters and depend upon one 

another for their accretion of meaning and value. They are not a language 

by themselves: rather they are devices by which ideas too difficult, 

dangerous or inconvenient to articulate in common language are 

transmitted in common ways. It does not appear possible to compile 

discrete vocabularies of symbols because they lack the precision and 

regularities present in natural languages that are necessary for explicit 

definitions. 

 



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Hymes, D. (1978). New literary history.The University of Virginia.  

Ingram, R.M. (1977). Principles & procedures of teaching sign 

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Kimura, D. (1976). The neural basis of language qua gesture. In H. 

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Sandler, W. & Lilo-Martin, D. (2006). Sign language and linguistic 

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Schlenker, P. (2018). Visible meaning: Sign language & the foundation 

of semantics. De Cruyter Mouton. 

 

 

 

Author Information: Mrs Stella Tonyo Akinola, PhD, 

lectures at the University of Africa, Toru-Orua, Bayelsa State, 

Nigeria. Email: stella.akinola@uat.edu.ng 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


