1. What is Semiotics?

2. Semiotics
• The study of
– signification and communication
– how meaning is constructed and understood
– how signification changes in different contexts

3. Semiotics
• Ferdinand de Saussure
(“so-SIR”) (1857-1913)
– “It is possible to conceive of a science which
studies the role of signs as part of social life. It
would form part of social psychology, and
hence of general psychology. We shall call it
semiology (from the Greek semeîon, 'sign'). It
would investigate the nature of signs and the
laws governing them.”

4. What is a Sign?

5. Sign
•
A sign is an entity which signifies
another entity.

6. Sign
•
•
•
A sign is an entity which signifies
another entity.
We make meanings through our creation
and interpretation of signs.
Charles Sanders Peirce (“purse”) (1839
–1914)

7. Sign
•
Whether something is a sign depends on
a sentient entity ascribing it with
meaning.

8. Sign
•
Whether something is a sign depends on
a sentient entity ascribing it with
meaning.

9. Sign
•
Whether something is a sign depends on
a sentient entity ascribing it with
meaning.
“leaf”

10. Sign
•
Whether something is a sign depends on
a sentient entity ascribing it with
meaning.
?

11. Sign
• Nothing is a sign unless it is interpreted as
a sign.
• Anything can be a sign as long as it is
interpreted as signifying something by a
sentient being.

12. Koko the Gorilla
(view video)

13. Dyadic Model
(Saussure)
What are the two
components of a Sign?
?
?

14. Dyadic Model
(Saussure)
Components of a Sign
Signified
Signifier

15. Dyadic Model
(Saussure)
Components of a Sign
Signified is psychological
Signifier is physical, sensual

16. Dyadic Model
(Saussure)
Commonsense dictates that the
signified, the concept, is primary.
Signified is psychological
Signifier is physical, sensual

17. Dyadic Model
(Saussure)
But many contemporary theorists
consider the signifier, the medium
of expression, just as important.
Signified is psychological
Signifier is physical, sensual

18. Semiotics is about a
System of Meaning
• Signs don’t have an essential or intrinsic
connection to nature.

19. Semiotics is about a
System of Meaning
• Signs don’t have an essential or intrinsic
connection to nature.
• Meaning is structural and relational rather
than referential.

20. Semiotics is about a
System of Meaning
• Signs don’t have an essential or intrinsic
connection to nature.
• Meaning is structural and relational rather
than referential.
• Signs refer primarily to each other.

21. Semiotics is about a
System of Meaning
• Signs don’t have an essential or intrinsic
connection to nature.
• Meaning is structural and relational rather
than referential.
• Signs refer primarily to each other.
• Signs only make sense as part of a
formal, generalized and abstract system.

22. Semiotics is about a
System of Meaning
• The word “cat” only makes sense in relation to
other words:
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
“dog”
“animal”
“pet”
“owner”
“cute”
“purr”
“lick”
“hunt”

23. Semiotics is about a
System of Meaning
“purr”
“cute”
“owner”
“lick”
“cat”
“hunt”
“animal”
“dog”

24. Semiotics is about a
System of Meaning
• No sign can make sense on its own but
only in relation to other signs.

25. Semiotics is about a
System of Meaning
• No sign can make sense on its own but
only in relation to other signs.
• The meaning of signs is in their systematic
relation to each other rather than deriving
from any inherent features of signifiers or
any reference to material things.

26. Semiotics is about a
System of Meaning
The word “cat” has
more in common with
other words than it
does an actual cat, or
whatever a ??? may
actually be.

27. Language is
Binaristic and Negative
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Cat vs. Dog
Man vs. Woman
Nature vs. Culture
Good vs. Evil
Yes vs. No
Black vs. White
0 vs. 1
Life vs. Death
Gay vs. Straight
Up vs. Down
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Cold vs. Hot
Happy vs. Sad
Sleep vs. Awake
Free vs. Pay
Pretty vs. Ugly
West vs. East
Paper vs. Plastic
Republican vs.
Democrat
• Healthy vs. Sick
• Few vs. Many

28. Things are defined not by what they
are, but by what they are not.

29. Things are defined not by what they
are, but by what they are not.
“red”

30. Most of the information
communicated is actually negative.
“red”

31. Linguistic Signs are Immaterial
(Saussure)
• Word signifiers have no material value
magically embedded in their sounds or
appearance.

32. Linguistic Signs are Immaterial
(Saussure)
• Word signifiers have no material value
magically embedded in their sounds or
appearance.
– This immateriality is their value.
– If linguistic signs draw attention to their
materiality this hinders their communicative
transparency.
– New words can be invented or imported as
needed

33. Dyadic Model
(Saussure)
Signified is psychological
Signifier is physical, sensual

34. Triadic Model
(Peirce)
Object in the real world or
speaker’s mind
Signified is psychological
Signifier is physical, sensual

35. Triadic Model
(Peirce)
Object in the real world or
speaker’s mind
Interpretant is meaning from
decoding representamen
Representamen is physical,
sensual

36. Three ways signs represent objects
(Peirce)
• Symbol
• Icon
• Index

37. Three ways signs represent objects
(Peirce)
• Symbol
– Arbitrary or purely conventional
– 100% needs to be learned
– language in general, alphabet, punctuation marks,
numbers, Morse code, traffic lights
• Icon
• Index

38. Three ways signs represent objects
(Peirce)
• Symbol
– Arbitrary or purely conventional
– 100% needs to be learned
– language in general, alphabet, punctuation marks,
numbers, Morse code, traffic lights
• Icon
– Resembling or imitating the signified
– similar in some quality
– portrait, cartoon, onomatopoeia, metaphors, sound effects
imitative gestures
• Index

39. Three ways signs represent objects
(Peirce)
• Symbol
– Arbitrary or purely conventional
– 100% needs to be learned
– language in general, alphabet, punctuation marks,
numbers, Morse code, traffic lights
• Icon
– Resembling or imitating the signified
– similar in some quality
– portrait, cartoon, onomatopoeia, metaphors, sound effects
imitative gestures
• Index
– existential connection to the signified
– evidence, smoke, footprints, pain, thermometer,
clock, knock on a door, photograph, handwriting,

40. Three ways signs represent objects
(Peirce)
• Symbol
• Icon
• Index
Signs can be one,
two or all three of
these at once.

41. What are some Symbols?
Words
Words
Words

42. What are some Icons?
“Chirp chirp”
“miu miu”
“vroooom”

43. What are each of these?

44. What are each of these?
Symbols
Icons
Symbol
Icon of a real-world symbol
(street sign)

45. What are some Indices?
(plural of index)

46. Semiotic Analysis

47. Semiotic Analysis

48. Semiotic Analysis
Olympic Style Guide for Beijing Citizens
(for foreigners to interpret Chinese people positively)

49. Semiotic Analysis
Olympic Style Guide for Beijing Citizens
• No wearing pajamas in public

50. Semiotic Analysis
Olympic Style Guide for Beijing Citizens
• No wearing pajamas in public
Westerners may read the
person as crazy, or the culture
doesn’t respect personal
boundaries and privacy.
The Chinese government
recognized that Westerners will
read the pajamas incorrectly.

51. Semiotic Analysis
Olympic Style Guide for Beijing Citizens
• No more than three color groups in your
clothing.
• No white socks with black leather shoes
• No public displays of affection
• When standing toes should point outwards
• Handshakes should not last more than 3
seconds

52. Semiotic Analysis
What are the intended signifieds?

53. Semiotic Analysis
What are the intended signifieds?
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Man
Sexy
Healthy / Ripped
Calvin Klein brand
Comfortable
Virility
“Package”
Inadequacy???
Jealousy???
Fear???

54. Semiotic Analysis
What are potential unintended signifieds?

55. Semiotic Analysis
What are potential unintended signifieds?
•
•
•
•
•
Homoerotic???
Corporate
Propaganda
“Douche bag”
Alienated (from brand)

56. Semiotic Analysis
How is the signifier shaping the signified?

57. Semiotic Analysis
How is the signifier shaping the signified?
• Black and white
– form and mass rather
than color
– authenticity

58. Semiotic Analysis

59. Semiotic Analysis
Transcoding (the signified)

60. Semiotic Analysis
Transcoding (the signified)
“Black” (“Black is Beautiful” from the 1960s)
“Nigger”
“Queer”
“Bitch”
Minority groups often appropriate the language of oppression to assert power

61. “The CD cover of his album Put Yo Hood Up (2001) shows Lil’
Jon clad in a pair of black rubber coveralls, his open-mouthed
expression of rage and intensity augmented by the added
effect of gold teeth, sunglasses, and long dreadlocks, creating
a general impression of a demented slaughterhouse worker or
other grotesque. The draping of the rebel flag around his
shoulders in the picture, far from constituting an endorsement,
communicates the hostile occupation of a symbol. The cover
image seems the worst nightmare of a white supremacist, a
demonic, superpowered black man appropriating, occupying,
and defiling the treasured symbol of Dixie.”
http://www.southernspaces.org/contents/2008/miller/9a.htm

62. Semiotic Analysis
I'm Sorry Miss Jackson
"I wear the belt for southern pride and to
rebel. . . . I don't take the Confederate flag
that serious as far as the racial part is
concerned." Andre 3000 of OutKast

63. Semiotic Analysis
Trans-coding (the signified)
Other examples?

64. Semiotic Analysis

65. Semiotic Analysis

66. Semiotic Analysis