Introduction to Semiotics Doug Brent Slides available at

Introduction to Semiotics Doug Brent Slides available at: http: //www. ucalgary. ca/~dabrent under “Material from Guest Lectures”

Semiotics The art (science? ) of describing and interpreting the potential meaning of signs

Every sign is composed of: a 'signifier' - the form which the sign takes and the 'signified' - the concept it represents.

Types of sign (Peirce): index: physical relationship (smoke = index of fire) icon: graphic relationship (visual representation) symbol: arbitrary relationship

Iconic or Symbolic?

No sign is purely iconic tree » More iconic (more “constrained, ” more “motivated”) More symbolic º (less “constrained, ” less “motivated”)

No matter how iconic a sign is, its meaning is not “in” the sign. It’s in the person who interprets the sign according to a code.

Anodized Gold Plaque from Pioneer 10 Space Probe

What “messages” does the picture convey? What codes must be shared in order to make sense of the picture? What cultural assumptions are encoded?

Semiotic codes are systems laden with cultural meaning. Cultural meanings are learned, usually unconsciously.

Signs can be recoded by their context. . .

semiotic analysis: • can be applied to any sign system • not empirically verifiable • looks for social, not individual effects • becomes a major tool of cultural studies

See “Semiotics Links” at the end of Chandler’s article for examples of semiotic analyses, including student essays (articles titled “A Semiotic Analysis of …”)