Wrt 105: practices of academic writing Dr. Rusty Bartels Monday, November 5th, 2018 Week 11, Day 1

Overview Barthes. All day. Wrap-up Whatever Barthes we don’t get to, we will pick up with on Friday.

Some Definitions Semiotics: “The study of meaning-making on the basis of signs” - wikipedia “The study of signs and symbols and their use or interpretation” – OED

Some Definitions Signifier The thing that signifies The sound, symbol, text, object that is recognized as a sign E.g. American Flag —> place, values, politics, etc.

Some Definitions Signified The meaning expressed by a sign As distinct from the sign itself If the American Flag is a signifier that can represent the United States, what are other signifiers that might represent the meaning: The United States of America?

Some Definitions Signifier & Signified The signifier is the thing that represents the meaning being signified CHAIR is the signifier that represents the meaning of the object in which one sits - a chair But it can also represent the person who is the chair of a committee, or first chair violin in an orchestra…

Some Definitions Denoted, Denote, Denotation To be a sign of If something is “denoted by x” you could say that it is “represented by x” Connoted, Connote, Conotation To imply, to suggest Similar to “conveys” Denote & Connote Both signify Denote —> a more literal meaning Connote —> other attributes associated with a term

Some Definitions Syntagm A linguistic term “A linguistic unit consisting of a set of linguistic forms (phonemes, words, or phrases) that are in a sequential relationship to one another.” In semiotics —> a syntagmic analysis looks at chains of what precedes & follows linguistic forms e.g. “The” is followed by a noun Basically: how does a sequence form a narrative? Connects back to signifier/signified —> signifier has no inherent meaning, but its sequence gives meaning

Some Definitions Ideology A system of ideas and ideals The beliefs & values that an individual or group holds No inherent value attached —> to call something “ideological” is descriptive

3 Messages Linguistic message A coded iconic message A non-coded iconic message One of the questions about these three messages that he is then asking is, how can we separate the last two —> how do we tell the difference between a coded and non- coded iconic message? By coded, we mean being able to convey another layer of meaning

3 Messages Linguistic message: the language present Coded iconic message: within a visual, the added layer of symbolism and other cultural knowledge that a person brings to “read” the image e.g. Bowl of fruit & what it (can) represent(s) Non-coded iconic message: the image only conveys what it conveys A bowl of fruit is just a bowl of fruit

3 Messages: Discussion In groups of 1, 2, or 3… How would you identify the linguistic, coded iconic, and non- coded iconic messages within this image? How do you see them connect?

Language: Anchorage & Relay Anchorage: guides the reader’s interpretation of the image/icon —> “The caption…helps me to choose the correct level of perception, permits me to focus not simply my gaze but also my understanding” (156) Straightforward. Relay: Where language & symbol work side-by-side

Language: Anchorage & Relay - Discussion Consider these two advertisements with the text removed. How do you come to understand the images now?

Denoted Image Almost pure representation As opposed to “resemblance” --> see: Birdsell & Groarke (1996) “Since it is both evictive and sufficient, it will be understood that from an aesthetic point of view the denoted image can appear as a kind of Edenic state of the image; cleared utopianically of its connotations, the image would become radically objective, or, in the last analysis, innocent.” (158)

Denoted Image To get at this idea – of the denoted image as Edenic, as innocent -- he looks at the difference between a photograph and a drawing, Photograph: seems to operate without a layered code, Drawing: is coded by nature in at least 3 different levels Something being coded requires not just to be recorded, but to be transformed The denoted then also “naturalizes the symbolic message…nature seems to spontaneously produce the scene represented” (159)

Denoted Image: Freewrite Do you accept Barthes’ distinction between photography and drawing? How do you think technological advances since this text was published contribute to the distinction - or not - between photography and drawing? What is the cultural value of photography? Of Drawing? How do we produce, consume, or otherwise access photographs or drawings in our day to day experiences?

Rhetoric of the Image Symbols and icons are embedded in knowledge - that knowledge is based in “a normal system whose signs are drawn from a cultural code” (160) He names these knowledges as: Practical National Cultural Aesthetic Discussion: In a group of 1, 2, or 3… Name at least 1, if not more, examples of how each of these knowledges can be seen or deployed. i.e., what is an example of “practical” knowledge?

Rhetoric of the Image “It is precisely the syntagm of the denoted message which “naturalizes” the system of the connoted message.” (162) It is this idea for him which distinguishes the difference between the coded and the non-coded iconic message. Now that may still seem kind of not clear to us BUT We can start to see the ways that images can both be nothing more than what they are, and latent with additional meanings and values. Which uses language/linguistics to guide the viewer

Wrap-up Today we: Introduced a number of terms and concepts related to Barthes’ semiotics Attempted to dissect what exactly it is Barthes is offering us Next time: Reading: none Workshop! Come prepared to think, talk, and write about your thoughts, progress, & process for Assignment #3 Office Hours today & Wednesday: 1:00 - 2:00 pm