Sign

（1）符号；指号（表指；能指；所指；符号学；表指关系）

（2）手势

(1) Several restricted applications of this general term are found in philosophical and linguistic studies of meaning, the former especially discussing the types of possible contrast involved in such notions as ‘signs’, ‘symbols’, ‘symptoms’ and ‘signals’. Sometimes ‘sign’ is used in an all-inclusive sense, as when semiotics is defined as ‘the science of signs’. In linguistic discussion, the most widespread sense is when linguistic expressions (words, sentences, etc.) are said to be ‘signs’ of the entities, states of affairs, etc., which they stand for (or, often, of the concepts involved).

(2) In such phrases as sign language and sign system, the term has a very restricted sense, referring to the system of manual communication used by certain groups as an alternative to oral communication. Such groups include policemen (in traffic control), drivers, monks vowed to silence, television studio directors, and so on; but the main application of the term is in relation to the deaf.

（1）这一名称在意义的哲学和语言学研究中有几种有限的应用。哲学着重讨论sign“指号”、symbol“符号”、symptom“征号”、signal“信号”这些概念之间可能有哪些区别。有时sign泛指一切符号，如符号学定义为“研究符号的科学”。语言学讨论中最常用的涵义是说词语（词、句子等）是其所代表的实体、事态等等（或其他概念）的“指号”。

（2）用于手势语和手势系统的名称中，涵义很窄，指某些群体用来替代口说信递的手工信递系统。这些群体包括交通警察、司机、禅宗和尚、电视演播导演等。但手势语主要指聋哑人的手势语。