2.3.3 CONVENTIONS AND COMMUNICATION
The elements of semiotics to be explored here involve the connection of signs with their objects (with objects generally considered as ideas). In the modern literature, an idea and a sign are usually referred to as the signified and the signifier, respectively.
Pierce classified signs under the categories of icon, index, and symbol. Reminiscent of its medieval roots, Pierce used elaborate and precise descriptions of the categories. These terms require only minor explanation today because the definitions have entered the common vernacular of our culture over the years. Concepts which took Pierce pages to describe in his time take but a few sentences or an example to understand now.