Semiotics: Foundations and Principles PDF

**Foundations of Semiotics\ ***Charles Sanders Peirce* - - - - - - - **Philosophical Influences** - - **Pragmatism** - - **Scientific Method** - - **Peirce's Semiotic Theory** - - - 1. 2. 3. **Peirce's Definition of a Sign** - **Theory of Signs...

**Foundations of Semiotics\ ***Charles Sanders Peirce* - - - - - - - **Philosophical Influences** - - **Pragmatism** - - **Scientific Method** - - **Peirce's Semiotic Theory** - - - 1. 2. 3. **Peirce's Definition of a Sign** - **Theory of Signs (Semeiotic) and Sign Use (Semeiosis)** 1. 2. - - 3. 4. - 4 Major Components of Peirce's Hegelian Idealism: PHANERON (world of appearances) - is a world consisting entirely of signs SIGN RELATION (representing relation) \- Is a crucial triadic relation composed of the sign, the object, and the interpretant 1.Sign -- refers to qualities, relations, features, items, events, states, regularities, habits, laws, and so on that have meanings, significances, or interpretations. \- *representamen;* is the term in the sign relation that is ordinarily said to represent or mean something \- is the signifier. It is a written word, an utterance, smoke as a sign for fire etc. 2\. Object - refers to the "thing" meant or signified or represented by the sign, what the sign is a sign *of*. \- whatever is signified; it is the object to which the written or uttered word attaches, or the fire signified by the smoke. 3\. Interpretant - refers *to which* the sign represents the object; the understanding that we have of the sign/object; relation; central to the content of the sign. For Peirce, a sign signifies only in being interpreted **Mental Interpretants and Infinite Semiosis** - - - **Evolutionary Universe** - **Semiotics is the study of signs and their meaning in society.** **Semiotics is concerned with everything that can be taken as a sign.\ **- Umberto Eco **A sign is something which can stand for something else. Thus a sign is anything that can convey MEANING.** Examples of signs include: - - - - - - \... because they can convey MEANINGS. **Signifier** --- sound image; can be interpreted as the material form\ **Signified** --- concept; mental concept **SIGNIFIER** as the form that the sign takes and the **SIGNIFIED** as the concept to which it refers. **SIGNIFICATION** --- the relationship between the signifier and signified; not fixed or natural but arbitrary and cultural. \"The only reason that the signifier does entail the signified is because there is a conventional relationship at play.\"\ Meaning, a sign can only be understood when the relationship between the two components that make up the sign are agreed upon. **Semiotics and other linguistic branches:** - - - **Importance of Semiotics** - - - - - - - - - **Foundations of Semiotics\ ***Ferdinand de Saussure* - - - - - **Course in General Linguistics (1916)** - - - **The Concept of the Sign** - - - - **Psychological Nature of Sound-Images** - - **Components of the Linguistic Sign** - - - **Two Basic Principles of a Linguistic Sign** 1. - - - 2. - **Concepts of Polar Opposites** - - - **Saussure's Contribution to Cultural Analysis** - - **Semiotics and Media** **Media Content (Text)** - - - **Media \'Text\' vs. Media \'Content\'** - - - - **Media Text and Audience Interaction** - - **Polysemy in Mass Media** - - - **Definition of Media Content** - - - - **Semiological Analysis** - - **Mythologies (Barthes, 1957)** - - - **Cultural Meaning of Media Content** - - **Social Impact of Media Discourse** - -