The 'transcendent' view of meaning holds that there is meaning outside of language and other semiotic systems.
The 'immanent' view of meaning holds that all meaning is within language and other semiotic systems.
To illustrate, imagine the scenario of a person seeing a cat in a backyard.
From the 'transcendent' perspective, 'a cat in a backyard' is meaning that is outside of language. Only if the person says 'there is a cat in the backyard' is the meaning inside language, in which case, it is said to refer to meanings outside semiotic systems. Reality is outside language, and language refers to it.
From the 'immanent' perspective, 'a cat in a backyard' is meaning that is inside language: a mental projection of meaning (rather than a verbal projection of wording). This entails a token-value relation between meanings of perceptual systems and the meanings of linguistic systems: perceptual tokens realise linguistic values. The meanings of perceptual systems are construed as the meanings of linguistic systems. Reality is what language construes of what perceptual systems construe.
