Barry Emery Week 3: Semiotics 211MKT Buyer Behaviour Barry Emery Week 3: Semiotics

This week’s objectives To explore communication as generation, negotiation and exchange of meaning To understand the concept of the sign, paradigm and syntagm To understand the use of semiotics in marketing communications To review the contributions of Saussure and Peirce to understanding semiotics

Communication, meaning and signs Linear / process Message transmission Steps and stages Message direction Receiver (passive)

A linear process of communication? Source / Sender Encoding Decoding Receiver / Audience Channel MESSAGE Response Feedback Loop Noise

Communication, meaning and signs Linear / process Message transmission Steps and stages Message direction Receiver (passive) Meaning generation What makes marks on paper and sounds in the air a message? Messages have significance as a result of the relationships between the elements involved Reader of messages (active)

Semiotics The study of signs ‘The study of the social production of meaning from sign systems’ O’Sullivan et al (1994) ‘a science that studies the life of signs within society’ Ferdinand de Saussure (1916)

Sign ‘an all-inclusive notion that comprises words, visualisations, tactile objects, olfactory sensations and anything else that is perceived by the senses and has the potential to communicate meaning…’ Shimp (2008)

Sign Has 3 essential characteristics: Physical form Refer to something other than itself Recognised and used as a sign - that is, it is an element in a shared cultural code or system

Sign A present for my wife… Cabbage Cactus Rose White rose – surrender? Red rose – passion?

Saussure (1916) sees a constant dynamic interaction between the two elements of the sign SIGNIFIER S I G N SIGNIFIED See Cobley and Jansz (1997)

Sign Saussure (1916) Sign has two constituent elements: Red rose - a flower = the signifier: its physical form as perceived by our senses - denotative meaning - objective Red rose - passionate love = the signified: the mental concept referred to by the sign - connotative meaning - subjective

Using signs… The same sign can mean different things to different people at different times, in different contexts Red rose Partido Socialista Obrero Español A traditional gift given to women in Cataluña on 23rd April – El dia de San Jordi

Semiotics: 3 areas of study The sign The codes and systems into which signs are organised. Codes involve ‘choice and chain’ – ‘paradigm and syntagm’ The culture within which signs and codes operate. Meaning is dependent on shared structures of understanding, shared cultural codes.

(Connotative meaning) Peirce Sign (Connotative meaning) Object (Denotative meaning) Interpretant See Jappy (2016)

Peirce Double ended arrows emphasise that each term is understood in relation to the others Interpretant = the effect of the sign in the mind of the reader The interpretation of the object (as a sign) is dependent on and derives from the receiver’s experience of that sign Sign Interpretant Object

Paradigm Paradigm – a set of signs from which a particular sign is chosen. A paradigm is a set of signs that are interchangeable within a given context. The choice made from a particular set will be highly significant.

Semiotics: 3 areas of study Paradigmatic analysis – what signs have been chosen at the expense of others? Soldier Guerrilla Spy Terrorist Freedom fighter Meaning is partly determined and understood in relation to other signs in the same code/system and determined by what it is not.

Paradigms: What signs have been chosen at the expense of others? Units in a paradigm must have something in common … must share characteristics that determine their membership of that paradigm What signs have been chosen at the expense of others? (Paradigmatic analysis – meaning is distinguished from others)

Syntagm Syntagm – a ‘chain’ of signs which are combined or organised in a meaningful order from a paradigmatic set of choices. A sentence – a syntagm of words (signs) A melody – a syntagm of notes (signs)

Syntagms Menus are paradigmatic lists Starter Main course Dessert Diners choose individual dishes to produce their meal – the syntagm The combination of chosen signs which produce a syntagm is rule-governed (so no one chooses chocolate cake followed by roast lamb rounded off with herring pate)

Culture Meaning is dependent on shared structures of understanding, shared cultural codes. ‘Semiotics gave the reader something to do’ Hartley (2002) The reader plays an active role in the meaning-making process

References Cobley, P and Jansz, L. (1997) Semiotics for Beginners London: Totem Books. Hartley, J. (2002) Communication, Cultural and Media Studies: The Key Concepts, London: Routledge. Jappy, T (2016) Peirces Twenty-Eight Classes of Signs and the Philosophy of Representation (Bloomsbury Advances in Semiotics) London: Bloomsbury. O’Sullivan, T. et al. (1994) Key Concepts in Communication and Cultural Studies (Studies in Culture and Communication) London: Routledge. Shimp, T. A. (2008) Advertising Promotion, and Other Aspects of Integrated Marketing Communications New York: South-Western.