Semiotics
Peirce, Ch. ‘We think only in signs’
Signs take the form of words, images,
sounds, odours, flavours, acts or objects,
but such things have no intrinsic meaning
and become signs only when we invest
them with meaning.
Semiotics
Semiotics is the study of signs (from the
Greek semeîon, ‘sign‘)
Semiology - a science which studies the role
of signs as part of social life. Linguistics is
only one branch of this general science.
Semiosis (a term borrowed from C.S. Peirce)
designates the process by which a culture
produces signs and/or attributes meaning to
signs (Eco)
Semiotics (C W Morris )
• semantics: the relationship of signs to what
they stand for;
• syntactics (or syntax): the formal or
structural relations between signs;
• pragmatics: the relation of signs to
interpreters
Semiotics is often employed in the analysis of texts (although it is far
more than just a mode of textual analysis). Here it should perhaps be
noted that a ‘text’ can exist in any medium and may be verbal, non-
verbal, or both, despite the logocentric bias of this distinction.
A linguistic sign
A linguistic sign is not a link between a thing
and a name, but between a concept and a
sound pattern. The sound pattern is not
actually a sound; for a sound is something
physical. A sound pattern is the hearer’s
psychological impression of a sound, as given
to him by the evidence of his senses.
SIGN
The sign is the whole that results
from the association of the
signifier with the signified
(Saussure). The relationship
between the signifier and the
signified is referred to as
‘signification’
Symbols
Symbols are not proxy for their objects but
are vehicles for the conception of objects...
In talking about things we have conceptions
of them, not the things themselves; and it is
the conceptions, not the things, that symbols
directly mean (S. Langer)
Types of signs
Index/indexical: a sign in which the signifier is not arbitrary but is directly connected in some way
(physically or causally) to the signified - this link can be observed or inferred: e.g. 'natural signs'
(smoke, thunder, footprints, echoes, non-synthetic odours and flavours), medical symptoms (pain,
a rash, pulse-rate), measuring instruments (weathercock, thermometer, clock, spirit-level), 'signals'
(a knock on a door, a phone ringing), pointers (a pointing 'index' finger, a directional signpost),
recordings (a photograph, a film, video or television shot, an audio-recorded voice), personal
'trademarks' (handwriting, catchphrase) and indexical words ('that', 'this', 'here', 'there').
Icon/iconic: a sign in which the signifier is perceived as resembling or imitating the signified
(recognizably looking, sounding, feeling, tasting or smelling like it) - being similar in possessing
some of its qualities: e.g. a portrait, a cartoon, a scale-model, onomatopoeia, metaphors, 'realistic'
sounds in 'programme music', sound effects in radio drama, a dubbed film soundtrack, imitative
gestures;
Symbol/symbolic: a sign in which the signifier does not resemble the signified but which is
fundamentally arbitrary or purely conventional - so that the relationship must be learnt: e.g.
language in general (plus specific languages, alphabetical letters, punctuation marks, words,
phrases and sentences), numbers, morse code, traffic lights, national flags;
Types of signes
index (contiguity)
icon (similarity)
symbol (convention)
Semiotic principles in
language
Time, place,person
Gender indices
Indexicality
Affect indices
Deference indices
Quantity principle
Iconicity
Proximity principle
Sequential order principle
Arbitrariness Symbolicity
Types of signs
Conventional vs. Natural
Arbitrary vs. Motivated
Digital vs. Analogical
Type / token
Type / token
• signs in which there may be any number of tokens
(replicas) of the same type (e.g. a printed word, or exactly
the same model of car in the same colour);
• signs whose tokens, even though produced according to a
type, possess a certain quality of material uniqueness (e.g.
a word which someone speaks or which is handwritten);
• signs whose token is their type, or signs in which type and
token are identical (e.g. a unique original oil-painting or
Princess Diana’s wedding dress).
([Link])
Functions of a semiotic system
• the ideational metafunction – ‘to represent, in a referential
or pseudo-referential sense, aspects of the experiential
world outside its particular system of signs’;
• the interpersonal metafunction – ‘to project the relations
between the producer of a sign... and the
receiver/reproducer of that sign’; and
• the textual metafunction – ‘to form texts, complexes of
signs which cohere both internally and within the context
in and for which they were produced’. (Kress & van
Leeuwen)
Paradigms and Syntagms
He
The man over there
Peter is, unfortunately, my brother
This idiot
What you see paradigmatic
syntagmatic axis
Paradigms and Syntagms
1. She selects signs from three paradigms (i.e. sets of possible signs - upper body
garments, lower body garments, and footwear). Each paradigm contains a
possible set of pieces from which she can choose only one. From the upper-
body-garment paradigm (including blouses, tee-shirts, tunics, sweaters), she
selects one. These items share a similar structure, function, and/or other attribute
with others in the set: they are related to one another on the basis of similarity.
She further selects items related by similarity from the lower-body-garment and
footwear paradigms. A socially defined, shared classification system or code
shapes her selections.
2. She combines the selected signs through rules (i.e., tee-shirts go with sandals,
not high heels), sending a message through the ensemble - the syntagm.
Selection requires her to perceive similarity and opposition among signs within
the set (the paradigm), classifying them as items having the same function or
structure, only one of which she needs. She can substitute, or select, a blouse for
the tee-shirt - conveying a different message. The combination, tee-shirt–jeans–
sandals, requires her to know the 'rules by which garments are acceptably
combined... The combination... is, in short, a kind of sentence‘ The tee-shirt–
jeans–sandals syntagm conveys a different meaning (sends a different message)
at the beach than at a formal occasion.
[Link]
Communication Models
Participants, message, medium, intersubjectivity
1. Code model
2. Inferential model
3. Interactional model
Code Model
[Link]
Inferential Model
The inferential model proposes that
communication consists of communicators
making inferences (hence the name) about
what the other is thinking or intending
based on evidence provided in context.
Inferences are essentially deductions or
informed estimates. Because we cannot
directly read the content of other people’s
thoughts, we have to do our best to figure
out what they are thinking—based on their
behavior—that is, based on the social
stimuli they exhibit.
A model of interpersonal verbal communication
(R. Jakobson)
