The Linguistic Foundation of Forming Critical Opinion in Written Language Development

Abstract

The issue of linguistic signs was first explored in ancient times by renowned philosophers such as Aristotle and Democritus. Since then, two major approaches emerged in the works of ancient Greek philosophers and grammarians. The first holds that elements of language (words, sentences) should be considered as signs; the second views these signs as inherently connected to human thought and reasoning. Later, the Stoic school also paid attention to the nature of linguistic signs. As a specific aspect of semiotics, language became a concrete theoretical problem in the 18th century. In the 19th–20th centuries, the elements of linguistic signs were studied within historical-comparative linguistics and logic. In the 20th century, this idea gained prominence as a major philosophical trend across linguistics, psychology, logic, and aesthetics.

This article examines the philosophical and linguistic foundations of the sign-based nature of language. Drawing on the works of Aristotle, Democritus, the Stoics, John Locke, Charles Peirce, Charles Morris, and Ferdinand de Saussure, the article analyzes the concept of linguistic signs from various perspectives. The author addresses both the phonetic (signifier) and semantic (signified) aspects of signs, describing the development of language as a sign system. The study highlights the interdisciplinary connections between semiotics, philosophy, and linguistics.