explain how indexical signs differ from other signs (or sign-relations, such as icons or symbols). How do indexical signs allow us to understand communication in the social world? In your answer, describe one example of indexicality discussed in this course (the example can be from lectures, readings, or articles).

 You can consider this reading in your response:

This week’s reading is an excerpt from a sociolinguistics/linguistic anthropology classic, Jocks and Burnouts: Social Categories and Identity in the High School (1989), by sociolinguist, Penelope Eckert. The excerpt includes pages 1-6 from the Introduction, and all of Chapter 4, “Symbols of Category Membership” (pages 49-72).

To consider while you read:

What “signs” do the students use to signal and practice membership in different social groups?
Using Peirce’s categories from Week 2, what kinds of signs do the students use?
What argument does Eckert make about the relationship between so-called ‘jocks,’ ‘burnouts,’ and the school’s value-system?