Key Terms and Key Thinkers in Semiotic
Key terms in semiotic theory and their applications in print media analysis
Semiotics is a complex academic field and a sub-discipline in its own right in cultural analysis.
Anchorage - (Does exactly what the name suggests) it fixes meaning. In print media texts, anchorage consists of lexical codes which firmly establish the connection between an image and the reason it has been used. They might appear as slogans, copy, headlines or captions accompanying an image. This can add value to the use of the image and maximize its impact.
Arbitrary (or symbolic sign) - A sign that does not have an obvious connection with what it represents, but whose meaning is agreed on by users of a particular code. Saussure referred to these types of sign as symbolic. Many road signs can be regarded as symbolic if you have to have read the Highway Code to understand what they mean.
Arbitrary Relationship - a relationship between signifier and signified which is not obvious(e.g. the word ‘cat’ in the Roman alphabet and our mental image of the animal)
Code - A system used to create meaning. Most forms of meaning production have specific codes, frameworks which are used to encode meaning. It is vital that codes are shared and their meanings agreed upon across a culture, or they cannot be decoded. Where these are limited to a specific mode of expression in media productions or forms, they are referred to collectively as technical codes. The various kinds of code used in print media analysis are described in more detail in the technical codes and features used in print media texts.
Connotation - The meaning evoked by a sign (what it makes us think.) It can be thought of as the end result of reading a sign, the mental image we have of its meaning
Critical Theory - an approach to the study of culture which considers how various forces are at work in its production
Decoding - When audiences interpret a text, in order to make meaning
Denotation - Can be understood as the literal meaning of a component of a code. You can also use the term as a verb, saying that an element of an image denotes (but be careful). The term is easily confused with connotes, which you would more commonly be using in meaningful semiotic analysis rather than description
Encoding - The process of creating particular intended meanings within a text
Iconic Sign - Looks like what it is representing. A portrait photograph is a good example of an iconic sign. Symbols such as the ‘danger of death’ sign you see on the side of an electrical substation are also iconic (they show someone being struck by a bolt of electricity, looking very much like the physical manifestation of electricity as lightning)
Indexical Sign - Has a relationship between the signifier and signified which could be described as causal or otherwise linked. The relationship between the two things is so widely recognised by users of the signification system that the indexical sign easily stands in for, or signifies, the concept it represents. Commonly used examples are smoke, which is an indexical sign of fire, a tear which suggests sorrow, footprints which suggest someone was in a place
Linguistics - the study of structural aspects of language, with many subspecialisms
Myth - This term is closely associated with Roland Barthes. A myth in critical theory is the way in which certain signs contribute to ideologies in our society. Myth is particularly helpful to print advertisers in promoting values that are consumerist and materialist in nature
Post Structuralism - later work on structuralism which both extends its ideas and critiques its approach
Second Order Of Signification - a layered and more subtle interpretation of a complex sign
Semiology - Saussure’s term for the study of signs, which he regarded as a science
Sign - This is the sum of the signifier plus signified. Most print media texts can be referred to as complex signs, since they often comprise many individual elements and codes which need to be decoded in order to understand fully what they represent
Signified - When we say that a particular message is signified, we are using it as a verb – it can also be used as a noun – the signified, the meaning that is intended
Signifier - Works in tandem with the signified, and together these combine into a sign. We
consider signifier and signified to work together, because the association happens so fast when we read a text.
Structuralism - a way of analysing culture which prioritises its form structure over function according to codified systems
Third Order Of Signification - the relationship between the first and second orders of signification and myths and ideology
Triadic Model - common term used for Peirce’s description of how we read signs
Key Thinkers
Charles Peirce (1839–1914) - American multidisciplinary academic who contributed to the field of semiotic theory from his broad background as a mathematician, philosopher and communication theorist
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