metasemioticn.adj.
/ˌmɛtəˌsɛmɪˈɒtɪk/, /ˌmɛtəˌsiːmɪˈɒtɪk/, U.S. /ˈˌmɛdəˌsɛmiˈɑdɪk/, /ˈˌmɛdəˌsimiˈɑdɪk/ Semiotics.
A. n.
A semiotics which deals with or describes another semiotics.
ΚΠ
1953 F. J. Whitfield tr. L. Hjelmslev Prolegomena to Theory of Lang. 76 The so-called metalanguage (or, we should say, metasemiotic), by which is meant a semiotic that treats of a semiotic.
1984 D. E. Wellbery Lessing's Laocoon Introd. 6 The array of values that characterizes the Enlightenment ‘metasemiotic’ or attitude toward signs.
B. adj.
Originally: designating or relating to the function of language in which a signifier is transferred from its normal signified; metaphorical. Now usually: of or relating to the description or analysis of a semiotic system.
ΚΠ
1968 B. L. Ogibenin in Social Sci. Information 7 87 The implicit metasemiotic statement expressed by means of, say, myth symbols (in the context of the general bulk of the mythic code used).
1972 O. Akhmanova Linguostylistics ii. 55 The function of speech of especial importance for linguostylistics is what Roman Jakobson called the ‘poetic’ function. We describe it as the ‘metasemiotic’ function... On the metasemiotic level the functioning of speech is completely different.
1972 O. Akhmanova Linguostylistics ii. 63 On the metasemiotic level it is a question of looking at a text from the point of view of transferred meanings.
1986 W. Weaver tr. U. Eco Trav. in Hyper Reality v. 210 They were conceived within a metasemiotic culture and what the semiotician can find in them is exactly what the directors put there.
1993 J. A. Lucy Reflexive Lang. i. Introd. 7 Speakers may construe..the object of metasemiosis as an event distinct from the metasemiotic signaling.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, December 2001; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.adj.1953