SEMIOTICS

SEMIOTICS

• What is semiotics?
• What is a sign?
• Types of signs
• Why study semiotics?
 WHAT IS SEMIOTICS?

• Also called semiology

• Comes from greek semeîon which means
sign
• Science which studies the role of signs as
part of social life (Saussure)
• Formal doctrine of signs (Peirce)
 STUDIES IN SEMIOTICS

• Semiotics are studied by semioticians

(semioticistas in Portuguese)

• Semiotics studies are in art, literature,

anthropology, mass media, psychoanalysis,
biology, education and computers
WHAT IS A SIGN?

• Saussure and Peirce were concerned

with the definition of sign.
• Words, images, sounds, gestures,
objects.
 FERDINAND DE
SAUSSURE

• November 26, 1857 – February 22, 1913

• Swiss linguist
• Father of the 20-century linguistics
SAUSSURE´S SIGN DEFINITION

the concept it
represents

signification

the form which

the sign takes
SAUSSURE´S SIGN
DEFINITION
• “The sign is the whole thing, that results from the
association of the signifier with the signified”
(Saussure)
• Signified and Signifier are both psychological
(form rather than substance)
• Saussure´s model of the sign refers only to a
concept and not to a thing.
EXAMPLE

Concept of a
tree

Word ‘tree’,
picture of a tree,
pronunciation of
‘tree’
EXAMPLE

• Signifier – word ‘open’

• Signified – that the shop is open for
business
CONCLUSION

• Saussure was focusing on the

linguistic sign (such as a word)
• Saussure was more concerned about
linguistic signs and speech
CHARLES SANDERS
PEIRCE
• September 10, 1839 - April 19, 1914
• American Logician, philosopher,
mathematician, and scientist
• Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts
• Contributions to philosophy, mathematics,
logic, and semiotics
DEFINITION OF SIGN
ACCORDING TO PEIRCE

• Sign is a form of a picture

which means something to
the viewer in respect or
capacity.
DEFINITION OF SIGN
ACCORDING TO PEIRCE

• Representamen – form which the sign

takes (not necessarily material)
• Object – to which the sign refers
• Interpretant – idea, interpretation in
mind
DEFINITION OF SIGN
ACCORDING TO PEIRCE
DEFINITION OF SIGN
ACCORDING TO PEIRCE

Touching the wire will kill you

Death The Skull

THREE TYPES
OF SIGNS

• Symbol – signifier does not resemble the

signified (fundamentally arbitrary or purely
conventional)
• Icon – signifier is perceived as resembling or
imitating the signified
• Index – signifier is directly connected in some
way (physically or causally) to the signified
THREE TYPES
OF SIGNS