Lecture 3. Semiotics. Sign (1)

1. Semiotics. Signs.

Lecture 3

2.

3. Semiotics

The study of
• signification and
communication
• how meaning is constructed
and understood
• how signification changes in
different contexts

4. Semiotics

Ferdinand de Saussure (18571913)
• “It is possible to conceive of a science
which studies the role of signs as part of
social life. It would form part of social
psychology, and hence of general
psychology. We shall call it semiology
(from the Greek semeîon, 'sign'). It would
investigate the nature of signs and the
laws governing them.”

5. Sign

A sign is an entity which
signifies another entity.

6. Sign

A sign is an entity which signifies
another entity.
We make meanings through our
creation and interpretation of signs.
Charles Sanders Peirce (1839 –
1914)

7.

• We seem as a species to be driven by
a desire to make meanings: above all, we
are surely Homo significans - meaningmakers.
• We make meanings through our creation
and interpretation of 'signs'.

8.

• we think only in signs' (Peirce 1931-58,
2.302).
• Signs take the form of words, images,
sounds, odours, flavours, acts or
objects, but such things have no
intrinsic meaning and become signs
only when we invest them with
meaning.

9.

'Nothing is a sign unless it is interpreted as a
sign', declares Peirce (Peirce 1931-58, 2.172).
Anything can be a sign as long as someone
interprets it as 'signifying' something - referring
to or standing for something other than itself.
We interpret things as signs largely
unconsciously by relating them to familiar
systems of conventions. It is this meaningful use
of signs which is at the heart of the concerns of
semiotics.

10. Sign

Nothing is a sign unless it is
interpreted as a sign.
Anything can be a sign as long
as it is interpreted as signifying
something by a sentient being.

11. Dyadic Model (Saussure)

• What are the two
components of a Sign?

12. Components of a Sign

Dyadic Model
(Saussure)
Components of a Sign
Signified is psychological
Signifier is physical, sensual

13. Common sense dictates that the signified, the concept, is primary.

Dyadic Model
(Saussure)
Common sense dictates that the
signified, the concept, is primary.
Signified is psychological
Signifier is physical, sensual

14.

• Together with the 'vertical' alignment of
signifier and signified within each
individual sign (suggesting two structural
'levels'), the emphasis on the
relationship between signs defines what
are in effect two planes - that of the
signifier and the signifier

15. Later, Louis Hjelmslev referred to the planes

expression
content

16. Saussure himself referred to

two
distinct but
correlated
planes.
thought
sound

17.

• 'We can envisage... the language... as a
series of adjoining subdivisions
simultaneously imprinted both on the
plane of vague, amorphous thought (A),
and on the equally featureless plane of
sound (B)' (Saussure 1983, 110111; Saussure 1974, 112).

18.

19. Contemporary theorists consider the signifier, the medium of expression, just as important.

Dyadic Model
(Saussure)
Contemporary theorists consider
the signifier, the medium of
expression, just as important.
Signified is psychological
Signifier is physical, sensual

20. Semiotics is about a System of Meaning

• Signs don’t have an essential or
intrinsic connection to nature.

21. Semiotics is about a System of Meaning

Signs don’t have an
essential or intrinsic
connection to nature.
Meaning is structural and
relational rather than
referential.

22.

System of Meaning
Signs don’t have an essential or
intrinsic connection to nature.
Meaning is structural and
relational rather than referential.
Signs refer primarily to each
other.

23. Semiotics is about a System of Meaning

Signs don’t have an essential or intrinsic
connection to nature.
Meaning is structural and relational
rather than referential.
Signs refer primarily to each other.
Signs only make sense as part of a
formal, generalized and abstract system.

24. Semiotics is about a System of Meaning

• No sign can make sense on its
own but only in relation to other
signs.

25. Language is Binaristic and Negative

• Man vs. Woman
• Nature vs. Culture
• Good vs. Evil
• Yes vs. No
• Black vs. White
• 0 vs. 1
• Life vs. Death
• Gay vs. Straight
• Up vs. Down
• Cold vs. Hot
• Happy vs. Sad
• Sleep vs. Awake
• Free vs. Pay
• Pretty vs. Ugly
• West vs. East
• Paper vs. Plastic
• Republican vs.
Democrat
• Healthy vs. Sick
• Few vs. Many

26. Linguistic Signs are Immaterial (Saussure)

• Word signifiers have no material
value magically embedded in their
sounds or appearance.

27. Linguistic Signs are Immaterial (Saussure)

Word signifiers have no material value
magically embedded in their sounds or
appearance.
• This immateriality is their value.
• If linguistic signs draw attention to their materiality
this hinders their communicative transparency.
• New words can be invented or imported as
needed

28. Triadic Model (Peirce)

The Representamen: the form which
the sign takes (not necessarily material);
An Interpretant: not an interpreter but
rather the sense made of the sign;
An Object: to which the sign refers.

29.

30. Types of signs

Symbol
Icon/iconic
Index

31.

An Icon has a physical resemblance to the signified, the thing being
represented. A photograph is a good example as it certainly resembles
whatever it depicts.
An Index shows evidence of what’s being represented. A good
example is using an image of smoke to indicate fire.
A Symbol has no resemblance between the signifier and the signified.
The connection between them must be culturally learned. Numbers
and alphabets are good examples. There’s nothing inherent in the
number 9 to indicate what it represents. It must be culturally learned.

32.

33. Icon/iconic sign:

• the signifier is perceived as resembling or
imitating the signified (recognizably
looking, sounding, feeling, tasting or
smelling like it) - being similar in
possessing some of its qualities

34.

a portrait,
a cartoon,
a scale-model,
onomatopoeia,
metaphors,
'realistic' sounds in 'programme music',
sound effects in radio drama,
a dubbed film soundtrack,
imitative gestures;

35.

https://www.shutterstock.com/search/iconic
-signs

36. AN INDEX

An index describes
the connection
between signifier and
signified.
With an index, the
signifier can not exist
without the presence
of the signified.

37.

Smoke is an index of fire.
Dark clouds are an index of rain.
A footprint is an index of a foot.
In each case the presence of the
former implies the latter exists.

38.

• An index is a sign that shows evidence of
the concept or object being represented.
An index doesn’t resemble the object or
concept being represented. Instead it
resembles something that implies the
object or concept.

39. NOTA BENE!!!

• One thing to be careful with
indexes is to make sure that
the correlation between the
signifier and signified is
understood by whoever
sees the sign.

40. What are some Indices? (plural of index)

41. Three ways signs represent objects (Peirce)

• Symbol
– Arbitrary or purely conventional
– 100% needs to be learned
– language in general, alphabet, punctuation marks,
numbers, Morse code, traffic lights
• Icon
– Resembling or imitating the signified
– similar in some quality
– portrait, cartoon, onomatopoeia, metaphors, sound effects
imitative gestures
• Index
– existential connection to the signified
– evidence, smoke, footprints, pain, thermometer,
clock, knock on a door, photograph, handwriting,

42. References

• https://www.cs.princeton.edu/~chazelle/co
urses/BIB/semio2.htm