• An outwardly, concrete significance of meaning out of the sensory.
• An inwardly, abstract significance of meaning that is genetically determined.

According to Genetic semantics the processing of sensory stimulants and every mental function of brain and nervous systems is based on genetic encoding. All known life-forms have evolved from DNA; i.e. the genetic code.

Not only the physiological life-forms but also the 'mental life' has evolved from the oldest signs: 64 genetic 'words' constructed from four chemical 'letters': T (thymine), C (cytosine), A (adenine) and G (guanine).

• The axiomatic school tried to determine the significance logically through deductive derivations. The most famous work of this school is Wittgensteins Tractatus and it led to the publications of the Wiener Kreis.
• The relativistic school found the axiomatic method too restrictive and attempted to ameliorate human communication by a psychological or philosophical approach. In Great Britain this school was represented by Lady Welby and in Holland by the Signific Circle with the poet, Frederik van Eeden, the lawyer, Jacob Israël de Haan, the mathematician, L.E.J. Brouwer and the linguist, prof. G. Mannoury.
• The analytical school saw signification as a linguistic science. The fact that logical deductions are too narrow to determine the signification doesn't, in this case, lead to relativism but to the search for another, adapted logic, using semantic markers and axes. The word "semantics" became known through The Meaning of Meaning (1923) of Ch.H. Ogden and I.A. Richards (pupil of Welby)

According to semanticists, language is not only a matter of references, conventional name-giving, observations and memory. These make up the surface of signification and explains the relative differences between languages and the changes in time. Signification also supposes a human capability situated in the brain, innate means that which explains the universal characteristics of language. Translation is only possible because all languages are compatible; i.e., there are universal standards hidden behind all cultural differences.

At first the official science of language rejected resolutely the possibility of innate knowledge. The most well-known objections came from the American linguist L. Bloomfield (1933) whose behaviouristic ideas have dominated education in the USA for 25 years. Mathematicians, who had experienced the limitations of the deductive method in logical paradoxes and Gödel's theorem, sought and found an escape for these problems in semantics; for example, the Polish school with Alfred Tarski and J. Lukasiewicz.

At the start of World War II the relativistic school had ceased to exist. The 'significa' had even disappeared from Holland. Prof. Evert Beth, a mathematician and historian became the first defender of modern semantics in the Dutch speaking regions. The well known neo-positivist Rudolf Carnap changed his opinion under the influence of Tarski's arguments and helped to spread semantics in the USA. As a result the neo-positivists started to defend a new version of the axiomatic method.

In 1957 Noam Chomsky's first work was published. Chomsky states that the ability of language must contain a "generative grammar" i.e., innate and thus universal rules that allow grammatical senses to be produced. The method can be applied in each language in a specific manner. This is the relative aspect. Chomsky says that language is hereditary and that we should look for the genetic code behind language and also that there should exist - on a deeper level - a link between sounds and significations.

Most of Chomsky's points are presently generally accepted by linguists. Steven Pinker's, "The Language Instinct", contains an impressive number of studies and arguments in favour of "generative grammar". His cognitive-psychological starting-point tries to reconcile the new vision of hereditary knowledge with the behaviouristic tradition that dominates US universities. Pinker's cognitive psychology studies languages as products of the brain (software) and the brain as a biological computer. Pinker gives arguments of children-psychologists, biologists, neuro-physiologists, computer specialists, linguists etc... proving that the existence of a thinking-language is not only possible but necessary.

• The 'earning capacity' of project Khnum. The Dutch survey is now closed (read the results on our blog). The English survey will run till november 2010. Start de Survey here.
• Free as a bird: a cross-cultural inquiry into the concept of freedom and the link with colour combinations. Start de survey here.

For example: With 84 coins from different countries the profile of the image is compared to the direction of the turning axis necessary to be able to read the characters on the other side correctly. The expectation is that coins which are in one respect yin (- -) , usually are this too for the other: looking to the left (- -) usually corresponds with a vertical (- -) axis, to the right (---) with a horizontal (---). Here the pair of meanings 2 is compared to 9. The 17 connections between the 10 pairs of meanings (counted double here above!) form a network.

These tests are each on their own, because of the limited number of random samples, not significant, i.e. the tendency predicted by the theory is the overall rule, but never strongly enough to be able to speak about statistical evidence. Together these 17 tests form, according to the ‘product rule’ of statistics, nevertheless sufficient proof for the spontaneous application of yin-yang divisions.

"The Imaginary State Space” furthermore contains an inquiry where 100 persons (divided according to social environment) answer 12 questions, whereby they each time (involuntarily) express a preference for yin or yang. As with the 17 tests, here also it appears that the interviewed who chooses yin for one answer, also chooses yin with other questions.

• Comparison between the lemma’s of the 3,000 years old Chinese ‘I Ching’ and those of the Lüscher colour test.
• Comparison of the lemma’s with colours in the semantic dictionary with the results of sociologist Eva Heller.
• Statistical research into horizontal and vertical in art from the beginning of the 20th century based on collected reproductions.
• Statistical research into the logical orientation in the preference for human guinea pigs.
• Research into the most present elements of form in abstract art.
• Linked to the previous test: comparison of these results with forms used in publicity.
• Statistical research into the meaning of six hundred AAO vowel words in 12 languages.
• Statistical research into the relation colour – vowel by counting the vowels in a flower guidebook.
• Statistical research into the relation colour- vowel- form by the comparison of national flags.
• Statistical research into the relation between orientation  and colour with the use of stamp collections.
• Statistical research into the connection between profile and turning direction by the comparison of 84 coins of different countries.
• Statistical research into vowels in male and female Christian names.
• Sample of vowels and gender in Dutch words.
• Statistical research into the vowels of even and uneven numbers in 11 languages.
• Statistical research into the use of colours and forms in a thematic art manifestation.
• Statistical research into the use of the vowels A and I in the works of Theilhard de Chardin.

• 64 facial emotions
• 64 graphic forms and colour combinations
• Symbotron

to start

"... all the chief expressions exhibited by man are the same throughout the world. ... we may infer with much probability, that such expressions are true ones- that is, are innate or instinctive." Charles Darwin

The facial expression parameters were gathered based on research of Charles Darwin, F.I. Parke & K. Waters, I. Fonagy & C. Magdics. Six basic expressions namely joy, fear, anger, sadness, disgust and surprise were fully described and could be compared with the results in the Semantic Lexicon of F. Alpaerts. Six facial semantic markers were thus selected and coded.

Table with six facial semantic markers

A screen print shows the result of combining 12 elementary characteristics of form. The poster is a catalogue of form-possibilities, a handy tool in assisting designers work or a fascinating piece of art.

64 graphic forms and colour combinations, screen print eight colours, 50 x 60 cm

The form which contains all the six 1 characteristics: ordered, smooth, ornate, horizontal, thin and rounded, is the full yellow form at the right bottom corner of the print. The codic opposite is the full blue form in the upper left corner of the screen print build with the six 0 characteristics. The 62 forms in between are all the other possibilities of the form characteristics.

Table with 6 form characteristics

Symbotron

Poster: offset four colours, 50 x 60 cm, Inez Michiels

The experiment shows the possibility that by combining simple symbols, one can form more complex terms. The experiment consists of a poster and an interactive application. The symbols where gathered from the Semantic Dictionary. It concerns the symbols of the eight basic colours. Those were combined with each other up to a whole of 64 pairs of symbols. On the poster version keywords were added to the pairs of symbols. In the interactive version you can combine symbols yourself. The symbols have been divided in eight groups of which correspond to the eight basic colours. They have been animated so that you can see passages within each colour between related meanings. By combining animations of different colours you can guess words yourself or just enjoy. You can animate all eight colours at the same time. Enter here for the interactive Symbotron experiment. Order the poster here To be viewed on appointment at our gallery.