Semiotics

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Semiotics
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De Saussure Signifier/Signified

• A sign is something which represents something to
  someone else e.g

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Signifier and Signified

• Saussure said that there are two parts to each
  sign
• Signifier the label we put on a sign the name
  or the sound
• Signified the mental association that we have
  when we hear or see the sign

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Look at these signs write down the signifier
(what it is) and the signified (what you think of
when you see this sign)
Saussure noticed that the link between the
signifier (what you call or label a sign) and
what it stands for, is a random or arbitrary
thing. What is the link between these objects and
their labels?
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There is no concrete, tangible link between signs
and their labels the words we use for them.

• harridan
• libel
• meridian
• picket

What do these words stand for? What do you think
of when you read or say these words?
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Summing up signs

• Signs usually take the form of
• WORDS
• IMAGES
• NON-VERBAL (facial expression etc)
• Words stand for things we want to communicate to
  others about feelings, opinions, information
• Sometimes we use pictures to communicate things
  to others and very often we use gestures or
  facial expressions or clothing to communicate
  with others.

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C.S Peirce Icon, Index, Symbol

• Peirce recognised that signs did not all work in
  the same way as you noticed with tattoos and
  piercings when you were looking at texts.
• Some signs are very closely related to the
  things they represent these signs are called
  ICONS.
• All these images are iconic,some more motivated
  thanothers
• ICONIC signs convey truth and reality what
  sort of texts tend to choose these sorts of
  signs?

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Index

• An index is a sign which is related to the object
  it represents but not directly or in a concrete
  way.
• For example, a knock on the door an index of
  arrival. The knock is not ARRIVAL, it is not a
  direct representation of arrival, but it
  indicates arrival and is connected to that event.
• Most facial expressions work in an indexical way
  because you cannot represent an emotion, we
  look for signs which indicate them e.g a smile is
  an index (or sign) of happiness. The smile
  isnt a direct representation of happiness.
• Indexes are used to represent abstract things
  emotions, ideas etc. Most non-verbal signs are
  indexes.

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Look at the signs below what are the indexes of?

• Index of ?
• Index of.?
• Index of.?

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Symbol

• Symbols are signs which have NO link at all with
  the thing it represents. The only reason we
  know what they mean is because we have learnt
  what they mean over time.
• Words are symbols there is no actual link
  between the word table and the object because
  if there was, the word would be the same in all
  languages.
• People decide to give objects labels in an
  arbitrary, random way and as long as other people
  agree to these labels, we all know what each
  other are talking about.
• For example pachyderm is the random label
  (symbol) applied to which animal?
• What is this symbol? Try to guess some more
  symbols on the sheet