Abbreviated title of the artwork in the system of signs by Ch. Peirce

The article is devoted to the semiotic aspect of the functioning of the abbreviated title of the postmodern artwork. The authors analyze the relationship of title-sign to the object which it replaces. The title is considered from the perspective of three main features peculiar of the sign in accordance with the Charles S. Peirce's theory. This fact allows us to conclude that, being a sign, the abbreviated title replaces a literary text, which is also expressed in symbolic form of the author's knowledge of reality. In this aspect the title becomes the metasign of its text. It is shown that in this connection, decoding and interpretation process take place in two stages - before reading the text and in the process of its reading and interpretation. It is alleged that the result of the interpretation of the title depends on the reader's competence which is determined by their individual literary scope, as well as by the skills of productive work with the text. On the basis of the classification of signs created by Charles Pierce, it was found that the abbreviated title has a complex semiotic nature combining the features of indexicality, conventionality, and iconicity, the latter of which may be present only in the abbreviated title.