significanti

Significanti is the plural of significante, a term used in semiotics and linguistics to refer to the formal, perceptible aspect of a sign—the sound pattern, written form, or gesture that conveys meaning. The corresponding concept, significato in many languages, is the mental concept or meaning that the sign represents. In the Saussurean view, a linguistic sign is the union of a significante and a signifié (the concept). The significante is not the thing itself but the tangible form through which speakers express meaning.

The link between significante and signifié is arbitrary and conventional: the same concept can be encoded by different significanti across languages. For example, the concept of a tree is expressed by different significanti in English, French, and Italian (tree, arbre, albero). Significanti function within a system of signs, and their meaning arises from their relationships with other signs rather than from any direct connection to a referent. Analyzing a language often focuses on differential value, showing how signs gain meaning through contrasts with neighboring signs.

In practice, researchers describe how significanti participate in sequences of signs (syntagms) and in choices among signs with similar meanings (paradigmatic relations). The theory also accommodates different types of signs, including iconic, indexical, and symbolic relations, to account for how a significante may resemble, point to, or arbitrarily stand for its meaning depending on context.

The term significante remains standard in Italian linguistics for the form side of the sign, distinct from significato (the concept). It should not be confused with significative figures in measurement, known as cifre significative in Italian.