Semiotics: Meaning-making
Semiotics is the study of how we make meaning, how we communicate meaning to others, and ultimately the way these communications shape ideologies and power relationships. This links into other disciplines such as linguistics (the study of language), anthropology (cultural representation and transmission), sociology (power, oppression), English (representation), art (postmodernism, pop art) and pop culture (fame, brands, memes etc).
Philosophically it all begins with Saussure who divided meaning in to a sign (a changable word or image) and the thing that is signified (the actual object or idea). This split undermines the 'permanance of language', showing how it can become fragmented in our brains (wjhich is a whole other field in psychology and neuro-science)
Semiotics is the study of how we make meaning, how we communicate meaning to others, and ultimately the way these communications shape ideologies and power relationships. This links into other disciplines such as linguistics (the study of language), anthropology (cultural representation and transmission), sociology (power, oppression), English (representation), art (postmodernism, pop art) and pop culture (fame, brands, memes etc).
Philosophically it all begins with Saussure who divided meaning in to a sign (a changable word or image) and the thing that is signified (the actual object or idea). This split undermines the 'permanance of language', showing how it can become fragmented in our brains (wjhich is a whole other field in psychology and neuro-science)
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Pierce added a third dimension, the interpreter (audience, responder) who filters the signification through their senses. This means they are respoonsing not just to the sign but also to the meaning ascribed to that sign by their cultural experiences.For instance whether you interpret the swastika on the left as a symbol of Nazi hatred, Buddhist peace or a cosy wall-hanging depends on your experience of the sign in your own cultural context and your personal visual perceptions (eg colour blindness). You can read about his ideas in detail at Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy [http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/peirce-semiotics/]. Umberto Eco adds in the idea of denotation (what something means literally) and Connotation (the extra meaning we associate with it - eg: Lynx deodorant with a strong sexy man). John Berger uses these ideas to examine the role of art and popular culture. Ms Carmyn has a copy of his influential book Ways of Seeing which looks at the way our perception has changed as a result of the pervasiveness of photographic/cinematographic images. You can also listen to him on YouTube. Roland Barthes extends these ideas to discuss the 'slipperiness' of language, especially used inconjunction with visuals (eg in advertising). If you are interested in Barthes, Ms Carmyn has a copy of Image, Music and Text. You might also want to have a look at Hits: the Philosophy of the Jukebox which looks at the meaning we create through having a permanent soundtrack to our lives in our ears (See me straight away - I haven't bought this yet and might send it back if you guys don't think it's worthwhile). The most recent theories look at things like the way the technologies are changing meaning-making. This slideshow from University of Gothenburg looks at how the internet has affected our communication. One especially interesting field for contemporary semiotitcians is emoticons. they are especially interesting because they are visual, so the same sign can be used by people from different cultures and language backgrounds. Ilona Vandergriff has made a study of how emoticons are used to establish meaning [http://www.languageatinternet.org/articles/2014/vandergriff] and Caroline Kelly has tried to discover whether emoticons have a universally shared meaning [http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:783789/FULLTEXT01.pdf]. |
Overviews of Semiotics can be found at:
Semiotics has become particularly important as an explanation of fashion and branding - why we are prepared to pay so much more for design features that have little to do with functionality.
There are some interesting applications of Semiotic theory to real-life learning:
Further reading (Journals you can access through the state library)
- Sonia Maasik and Jack Solomon The Semiotic Method [http://courses.wcupa.edu/fletcher/solomon.htm]
- Sarah A's Blog post What is Semiotics [http://theoreticalmusings.blogspot.com.au/2006/10/semiotics-101.html]
- Gethyn Joness' Visual Language and Semiotics [http://www.gethynjones.co.uk/unit-1-1/visual-language-and-semiotics/]
- The Grammar of Visual Design is a simple (simplistic?) introduction https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpdJgDf7V6E]
- florian schneider's Guide to the Theory of Semiotics [http://www.politicseastasia.com/studying/guide-to-the-theory-of-semiotics/]
- This powerpoint accompanies a lecture (which I haven't managed to find online) from the University of Gothenburg
- Daniel Chandler's comprehensive introduction to the subject (practically a course in itself) Semiotics for Beginners [is freely available online here or here.
- Mieke Bal On Meaning-making: Essays in Semiotics [http://faculty.georgetown.edu/irvinem/theory/Bal-Meaning-Making.pdf]
Semiotics has become particularly important as an explanation of fashion and branding - why we are prepared to pay so much more for design features that have little to do with functionality.
- Sudio Sardsan's Semiotics of Branding [http://www.slideshare.net/SudioSudarsan/semiotics-of-brand-building/61-I_abandon_traditional_anthropology_andtraditional] is a fabulous slide-show introduction to semiotic thought as well as it's application to the construction of a brand.
- Dr Disruption Semiotics of Design [http://www.doctordisruption.com/design/the-semiotics-of-design/] gives real-life examples from kettles, to phones to cabbage patch kid dolls.
- Sign Salad [http://www.signsalad.com/semiotics-explained/] is a business that helps brands apply semiotics to their global image. It has some interesting posts on the blog.
There are some interesting applications of Semiotic theory to real-life learning:
- How do 9-year-olds approach the meaning of visual signs in weather charts [http://meta-carto-semiotics.org/uploads/mcs_vol2_2009/MCS_2009_2_papadopoulou.pdf]
- Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom [https://rsbakker.wordpress.com/2015/05/18/more-disney-than-disney-world-semiotics-as-make-believe/] discusses How meaning is both produced and undercut in Disneyworld
- Semiotics of Persecution (panel 4 on page10) Looks ath e semiotics of the Jewish Star of Davidduring the Holocaust. his is just an abstract and I don't know how you could get the actual paper (I would suggest contacting the author) but even the summary sounds intriguing and could be grounds for further research.
- University of Gothenburg has a public course on Popular Culture and the English Language. The entire course can be found here [http://gul.gu.se/public/pp/public_courses/course59387/published/1377878917001/resourceId/24007053/content/acbfb0ec-a914-450e-b4d2-a8e1aa58dc99/66d5b614-67b6-4359-a32d-57fea10c3566.html]
- A range of ideas for your presentation could also be found in these abstracts for papers given at the World Semiotics Conference 2014. [http://semio2014.org/en/visual-semiotics]
Further reading (Journals you can access through the state library)
- Virginia Valentine, (2003) "Using semiotics to build powerful brands for children", Young Consumers, Vol. 4 Iss: 2, pp.9 - 16