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

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

3. 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

4. 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.

5. 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?

6. 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…

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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?

13. 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

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

15. 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)

16. 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)

17. 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?

18. 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?

19. 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

20. 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