Sentence:  In Jakobson's much simplified version of semiosis (1980:11, 22), a model M, a cabbage, could be said to function as a <WSD>renvoi</WSD> to the thing T, a king, and this referral could, by virtue of an effective similarity, be iconic (after all, as Mossis [1971:273] taught us, "Iconcity is . . . a matter of degree"). 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  Cross-reference in text; a sign that refers to something introduced earlier in a text.