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Written by:
Magdalena Piszczek
Monika Kusber
Introduction
As one may say, semiotics as a scientific term may be described as the theory and to
be more precise also study of symbols and signs. The study refers especially to signs as
elements of language or other systems of communication. The method of semiotics or
semiotic analysis exploits the perspective of semiotic theory to enrich our understanding of
particular signs.
Ask one for a definition of ‘semiotics’ and what you get is basically a blank look.
Indeed, it is extremely hard to offer simple definition which is of much use. Semiotics could
be anywhere and the shortest definition is that it is the study of signs. But to be honest, that
doesn't leave us- enquirers much wiser.
Semiotics is not widely institutionalized as an academic discipline. It is a field of study
involving many different theoretical stances and methodological tools. A general semiotic
theory will be considered powerful according to its capacity for offering an appropriate formal
definition for every sort of sign function, whether it has already been described and coded or
not.1 Semiotics is usually divided into three branches, which include: - Semantics: studies the
relation between signs and the things to which they refer, so their meaning; - Syntactics:
conducts research on relations among signs, particularly in formal structures; - and
Pragmatics: which studies the relation between signs and the effects they have on their users.
Well, as it turns out it is possible, indeed, to conceive of a science which actually
studies the role of signs as part of social life. However, it does not yet exist, there is a place
ready for it in advance. It would form part of social psychology, and hence of general
psychology and it would investigate the nature of signs and the laws governing them.2
Although an idea of 'sign' itself has been intensively discussed and explored in western
philosophy at least since Plato and the Stoics, a special area of activities or interests which
would be devoted to the general study of signs did not emerge until the beginning of the
twentieth century. The one that appeared became variously known as 'semeiotic', 'semiotic',
'significs' (Peirce, 1977), 'semiology', 'signology' (Saussure, 1916) and 'semiotics' (Sebeok,
1976).3 All these terms have in common its origin, as they are derived from the ancient Greek
word for 'sign': semeion and also its Latin equivalent signum.
1
Umberto Eco, A theory of semiotics (First Midland Book Edition, 1979) , p. 5.
2
Chandler Daniel. “Semiotics for beginners” 2007. http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/S4B/ (25 Feb
2011).
3
Bouissac Paul. "Saussure’s legacy in semiotics." The Cambridge Companion to Saussure. Ed. Carol Sanders.
Cambridge University Press, 2004. Cambridge Collections Online. Cambridge University Press. (18 February
2011).
2
Semiotics began to become a major approach to cultural studies in the late 1960s,
partly as a result of the work of Roland Barthes. What contributed to a great increase of
scholarly awareness of this approach was the translation into English of his popular essays in
a collection entitled Mythologies, which was followed then (in the 1970s and 1980s) by many
of his other writings. In one of his writings from 1964, Barthes declared that 'semiology aims
to take in any system of signs, whatever their substance and limits; images, gestures, musical
sounds, objects, and the complex associations of all of these, which form the content of ritual,
convention or public entertainment: these constitute, if not languages, at least systems of
signification' (Barthes 1967, 9). The adoption of semiotics in Britain was influenced by its
prominence in the work of the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies (CCCS) at the
University of Birmingham whilst the centre was under the direction of the neo-Marxist
sociologist Stuart Hall.
Gradually, during the second half of the twentieth century, 'semiotics' was increasingly
associated with its reference to the branch of knowledge concerned with research (both formal
and empirical) on signs, signification, meaning and communication. Although semiotics may
be less central now within cultural and media studies (at least in its earlier, more structuralist
form), it remains essential for anyone in the field to understand it. Undoubtly, what individual
scientists have to assess, of course, is whether and how semiotics may be useful in any aspect
of their concerns.
What is worth mentioning, is that Saussure's term, 'semiology' is sometimes used to
refer to the his tradition, whilst 'semiotics' sometimes refers to the Peircean tradition.
Nowadays however, the term 'semiotics' is more likely to be used as an umbrella term to
embrace the whole field.4 What we mean is that both terms: 'semiology' and ‘semiotics’ are
used with more or less the same broad value, unless specified otherwise. Peirce and Saussure
are considered as the two initiators of the modern 'science of signs' for which they
independently sketched tentative definitions and research blueprints. Thanks to that, there is
one evident characteristic that allows to distinguish between ‘semiotics’ and ‘semiology’.
While the first one has an apparent tendency to extract and quote the writings of American
philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914), the other one would sometimes exclusively
refer to the traditions derived from the teaching of Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure
(1857-1913), principally in the Gallic context.
4
Chandler Daniel. “Semiotics for beginners” 2007. http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/S4B/ (25 Feb
2011).
3
To start any study of laws, rules or limits of semiotics, there is an important issue to
consider. One should determine whether the term ‘semiotics’ refers to a specific discipline,
with its particular object and own methods, or, perhaps, a field of studies, not entirely unified
yet. Whatever the conclusion is, we should- as Umberto Eco puts it- keep I mind the semiotic
field as it appears today, in all its many and varied forms and in all its disorder.5
When talking about semiotics we cannot forget about the input of its founding fathers
i.e. the Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure and Umberto Eco. The first mentioned is
responsible for the concept of the sign (in other words signifier or referent) forms which is
perceived as the core of the field. In the next two chapters we will aim at describing their
achievements in the fields of semiotics.
Other than Saussure, Barthes and Eco, key figures in the development of semiotics
were f.e. the previously mentioned American philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce and Charles
William Morris, who developed a behaviourist semiotics.
4
What is more when it comes to the comparison of the two semioticians, while Peirce
was a prolific writer who produced many versions of his theoretical vision, Saussure did not
publish any work on this topic in his lifetime and he communicated his ideas exclusively
through his teaching and correspondence. These ideas were summarised and edited by two of
his colleagues posthumously.
5
granted while representing the world. Sign systems help to name, describe reality of 'the way
things are'. What we mean is that it is semiotics that reminds us that we are always dealing
with signs, in every aspect of our everyday life and also that sign systems are involved in the
construction of meaning.
In Chandler’s ‘Semiotic for beginners’ we learn what famous Robert Hodge and
Gunther Kress point out about semiotics. They argue that unlike many academic disciplines,
'semiotics offers study of communications phenomena as a whole, not just instances of it'. 9
And last but not least, semiotics makes us aware of the very fact that the culture, all
the cultural values we follow and with which we basically make sense of the world, have been
handed down from generation to generation by the members of the culture of which we are
currently a part of and that they form the conventions. It is a kind of a reminder left for us that
there is nothing 'natural' about our values. But also that they differ radically from culture to
culture.
9
Chandler Daniel. “Semiotics for beginners” 2007. http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/S4B/ (3 March
2011).