寄语《语言与符号》
The new journal,Language and Sign, edited by Professor Mingyu Wang, director of the Research Centre of Linguistic Semiotics, Tianjin Foreign Studies University, published by Higher Education Press, is interested, among others, in questions related to the interface between linguistics and semiotics, both in theory and practice.
Since Ferdinand de Saussure briefly and succinctly touched on the point in hisCours de linguistique générale, we have had a number of important contributions on the point. The discussion so far, however, has almost exclusively been made in terms of European languages, characterized basically as inflecting languages and which use phonograms in transcription. What can we say, over and above what has so far been theorized, from the point of view of a language like Chinese, which is a markedly isolating language and uses ideograms in transcription? Moreover, its speakers have been bred in considerably different cultural and natural milieu from those of the traditional Western societies. Does this affect in any way the speakers’ awareness of their ‘subjectivity’ as speakers, and if it does, how? We are keen to learn about these and many other points – which will lead us to a more balanced conceptualization of humans as ‘signifying animals’.
We believe that the new journal will bring us more food for thought in this respect. And at the same time we expect an international perspective of this new journal, which not only brings Chinese semiotic research to the Western societies, but also offers a forum for dialogue between researches of Western and Eastern traditions.
译文：
《语言与符号》这一新期刊将语言学和符号学的结合列为兴趣所在，关注与其相关的各种理论和实践问题。它由天津外国语大学语言符号应用传播研究中心主任王铭玉教授主编，高等教育出版社出版。
自从费尔迪南·德·索绪尔在其《普通语言学教程》中简洁而清晰的触及语言与符号这个问题以来，已有很多重要著作问世。但是，这些著作几乎都是毫无例外地讨论以使用音符文字的曲折语为基本特征的欧洲语言的情况。超越这些理论阐述，从汉语这一明显使用表意文字的孤立语出发，我们能说些什么呢？而且，对说汉语的人而言，其成长的文化和自然环境与传统的西方社会中语言使用者所处的环境明显不同。这是否影响说者对自己说者“主体性”的认识呢？如果答案肯定，那又是以什么方式影响呢？我们非常想知道这些以及其它问题的答案，这将使我们更加全面认识人类自己“能指动物”的身份。
我们相信，《语言与符号》这一新期刊将会在这方面给我们带来更多思考的食粮。同时，我们期待这个期刊具有国际化视角，这不仅可以把中国的符号学研究带给西方世界，而且可以为东西方传统的研究提供一个对话的平台。
池上嘉彦（Yoshihiko Ikegami）
国际著名符号学家，耶鲁大学哲学博士，日本东京大学名誉教授，
天津外国语大学语言符号应用传播研究中心国际顾问
（翻译：田海龙）
