“I need a sign…”

semiology (from the Greek semeîon, 'sign'): a science which studies the role of signs as part of social life. “Sign, sign, everywhere a sign…”

COMMUNICATION THEORY Information theory in the late 1940’s: Intentional information = signal “Cybernetics, or Control and Communication” Norbert Wiener “A Mathematical Theory of Communication” Claude Shannon Crawford Dunn Applies idea of signal to the content of messages This idea lets us focus on the possible layers of meaning within a message

SEMIOTICS Also called semiology The study of signs or sign systems. It applies to any kind of signs, not just words. Coined in 1690 by John Locke in “An Essay Concerning Human Understanding”.

Signs = words

Signs = images

Signs = sounds

Signs = gestures

Semiotics is important because it can help us not to take 'reality' for granted as something having a purely objective existence which is independent of human interpretation. It teaches us that reality is a system of signs.

Studying semiotics can assist us to become more aware of reality as a construction and of the role we play in constructing it.

Meaning is not 'transmitted' to us, we actively create it according to a complex interplay of codes or conventions of which we are normally unaware.

Becoming aware of such codes is both inherently fascinating and intellectually empowering. We learn from semiotics that we live in a world of signs and we have no way of understanding anything except through signs and the codes into which they are organized.

Through the study of semiotics we become aware that these signs and codes are normally transparent and disguise our task in ‘reading’ them. ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

In defining realities, signs serve ideological functions.

Structuralism is an analytical method which has been employed by many semioticians and which is based on Saussure's linguistic model. Structuralists seek to describe the overall organization of sign systems as 'languages‘. SaussureSaussure & Sanefski Darren with Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure circa 1916

the sign - the whole that results from the association of the signifier with the signified The relationship between the signifier and the signified is referred to as 'signification'. -- Saussure a 'signifier' - the form which the sign takes; the 'signified’ - the concept it represents.

American Charles S. Peirce shown w/Darren Sanefski – circa 1918

Barthes (French social theorist), and Sanefski, applied semiotics to cultural studies; has been applied to psychoanalysis, aesthetics, communications, and anthropology. Rowland Barthes shown w/Darren Sanefski – circa 1975

Semiotics and that branch of linguistics known as semantics have a common concern with the meaning of signs, but John Sturrock argues that whereas semantics focuses on what words mean, semiotics is concerned with how signs mean.

Three possible layers of a message: Alphasignal Hard data or primary facts of a communication Alpha: denoting the primary message The objective part of the message Parasignal Aspects of communication that supports or amplifies the alphasignal. “Para”: above or beyond Infrasignal Content beneath the message that can reveal information about the creator. “Infra”: below or within

Three possible layers of a message: Alphasignal Hard data or primary facts of a communication Alpha: denoting the primary message The objective part of the message ELEMENTS OF THE MESSAGE as defined by Crawford Dunn

Three possible layers of a message: Alphasignal Hard data or primary facts of a communication Alpha: denoting the primary message The objective part of the message Parasignal Aspects of communication that supports or amplifies the alphasignal. “Para”: above or beyond

Three possible layers of a message: Alphasignal Hard data or primary facts of a communication Alpha: denoting the primary message The objective part of the message Parasignal Aspects of communication that supports or amplifies the alphasignal. “Para”: above or beyond Infrasignal Content beneath the message that can reveal information about the creator. “Infra”: below or within ELEMENTS OF THE MESSAGE as defined by Crawford Dunn

METASYMBOL Significance beyond meaning

OPEN

Signified: The thing represented (Concept) Signifier: What represents the signified (Mark/Sound)

OPEN

Semiotics deals with how meaning is formed. The fundamental unit considered in semiotics is the sign. Signified: The thing represented (Concept) Signifier: What represents the signified (Mark/Sound) Dog

Chien (France) Perro (Spain) Cane (Italy) Hund (Germany)

< historical evidence does indicate a tendency of linguistic signs to evolve from indexical and iconic forms towards symbolic forms.

$ # * Symbol

Icon Resembles the thing it represents Examples: pictorial representation, photo, architect’s model of a building

Icon

“Visual Cues”

Index Indirect connection to the thing it represents Examples: smoke, shadows

Index

Symbol Arbitrary relationship between signifier & signified. Interpreter understands the relationship through previous knowledge. Example: words, +, &, ?, $

Metasymbol Symbol whose meaning transcends the realm of one-to-one relationships. Barthes defined this as “myth”— when a sign becomes imbedded with abstract concepts through history, culture, and tradition. For some readers, religious & magical signs & symbols have these properties: Christian crosses, etc.

Semiotics of Ribbons