Semiotics

Semiotics Lesson

Semiotics is the study of signs. A sign is something that stands for something, other than itself.

  There are two main studys, one is study by sausuure - sausuure's dyadic semiotics system and the other is pierces's tryadic semiotic system.

The first, is based on a study by Saussure - Sausuure's dyadic semiotic system. He concluded that signs are purely psychological and that they only make sense in a formal abstract system. He also stated that a one word language is an impossibility, and that a sign refers to what it is not. A sign is made up of a signifier, which signifies the signified - basically, something which connotes something else.

The other is Pierce's tryadic semiotic system, which states that there are 3 main different types of sign; indexes, icons and symbols. With indexes, it is connected to the signified in some way, either physically or casually (eg. the smell of smoke signifies a fire, but does not necessarily indicate a fire). An icon means that the signifier resembles the signified, for example a painting of a tree resembles a tree, but is not a tree itself, and a symbol is when the signifier is totally arbitrary and conventional, such as letters and numbers.