Semiotic Processing in Working Memory

The hitherto unrecognized task of Empirical Semiotics is to identify particular testing procedures which measure qualitative differences in how representations are processed. Elicited imitation (EI) can indicate the nature of the interpretants which hold between sign and object by tapping how meanings are processed in working memory (WM). The way in which linguistic forms are handled in WM reveals striking distinctions between interpretants which express a proposition, as opposed to those which are simply diagrammatic in nature. EI is the soundest method (compared to natural speech, grammatical judgments) to measure qualitative semiotic advances because it measures meaning changes accorded to the sign in WM. Subjects were instructed to provide word associations after each stimulus (twenty-four sentences) to guard against verbatim recall. Repetitions of the advanced groups more often contained meaningful substitutions (words/inflections), whereas word deletions were more often documented in the beginner groups. Findings indicate the propensity of the more advanced L2s to process signs as meaningful propositions – lower proficiency learners illustrating verbatim repetitions in Secondness (associating more diagrammatic interpretants), while more symbolic meanings surfaced (Thirdness) in advanced groups. The EI procedure constitutes the best method of tapping L2s interpretants which mediate sign–object relations.