Friday, 26 October 2012

Semiotics Analysis - Brief Lecture Notes

The Study of Signs
Analysis of Text and Image
Ferdinand de Saussure (1857 - 1913) - questioned how things were named. Revolutionary Theory of the time. It had been believed that God named things.
Saussure said that language had to be learned, and that signs had to be understood through learning.

Sign = Signifier + Signified

Signifier = Tree
Signified = The idea of a tree.

Each sign is composed of two distinct parts. One physical and one Conceptual.
Language is a symbolic sign system.

Cultural Codes and Conventions = Collective to agree on the meaning

Recommended Book - Harris, Roy (1987) Reading Saussure LONDON Duckworth.

Not all signs have the same collective meaning. A Dove for instance denotes Peace in the UK but not throughout world cultures.

Roland Barthes (1915 - 1980)  Mythologies - elements of semiology.
Polysemic text - open to more than one meaning. To interpret.
The text needs to anchor the meaning.


Second Level of meanings - Emotions - to look at an image and read it through association of the learned.

Visual Metaphor - comparing a sign with another by association or point of similarity.
To convey a message without many words.

METONYM  - LOGOS - one sign that stands for whole company or product as in Volkswagen. Recognisable to many.

How we represent a story affects the person listening or looking. Interpersonal. Compositional.





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