Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
“
The language is a system of signs that represent concept
.”
1)
Signs
Molecules
2)
Systems
Self-Organizing Systems
3)
Concepts
Gene-Directed Cell
Processes
“The cell language is a self-organizing system of
molecules, some of which encode, act as signs
for, or trigger, gene-directed cell processes.”
Fig. 6.1 The “formal” derivation of the definition of cell language from that of human language
given by Saussure (Culler 1991; Ji 2002b)
To understand biology, it is necessary to understand both physics and linguistics. (6.8)
It is impossible to understand biology based on the laws of physics and chemistry alone.
(6.9)
Since linguistics is an important branch of the more general theory of signs,
namely,
semiotics
, it behooves us to inquire into the connection between biology
and linguistics on the one hand (Sect.
6.1.2
) and biology and semiotics on the other
(see Sect.
6.2
).
6.1.2 The Isomorphism Between Cell and Human Languages:
The Cell Language Theory
Human language can be defined as a system of
signs
obeying a set of rules that
enables humans to communicate with one another. In other words, human lan-
guage is a necessary condition for human communication. Similarly, there must
be a language unique to living cells in multicellular (Ji 1997a, b) as well as
unicellular (Stock et al. 2000) organisms, since cells must communicate among
themselves in order to survive by carrying out their specialized biological
activities in a coordinated manner. Such a language was named “cell language”
in Ji (1997a). Cell language was defined as “a self-organizing system of
molecules, some of which encode, act as signs for, or trigger, gene-directed cell
processes” (Ji 1997a). This definition of cell language was inspired by the defini-
tion of human language given by Saussure (Culler 1991): “The language is a
system of signs that represent concept.” The definition of cell language can be
formally
derived from that of human language given by Saussure by applying the
following transformations: (1) replace “signs” with “molecules,” (2) replace
“systems” with “self-organizing systems;” and (3) replace “concepts” with
“gene-directed cell processes” (see Fig.
6.1
).
Human and cell languages obey a common set of
linguistic
(or more generally
semiotic
) principles (Sect.
6.2
), including
double articulation, arbitrainess of signs
