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Chapter 2Meaning as Sign
• Semiology = the study of signs & symbols• (also known as: the study of meaning)
• Language can have meaning in two ways:1-what it says – encoded sign – (Semantics)2- what it does in context – action – (Pragmatics)
The linguistic sign
• Human’s unique capacity to create ‘signs’ to communicate.
• Sign = signifier + signified1- Signifier: sound or word (e.g. rose)2- Signified: concept or object or idea
• Sign ‘refers to the relationship between the two’ • Clip
• The linguistic sign is ‘arbitrary’– Arbitrary: subject to individual will, preference, or
judgment - not to laws
• i.e. there is no direct relation bet the signifier and signified.
– e.g. ‘table’ for both English and German speakers
The meaning of signs• 1- Denotative: the meaning that refers to a definable reality
and can be looked up in a dictionary.- e.g. ‘rose’ in poem refers to real object found in gardens.
• 2- Connotative: associations -of the word –that are evoked in the mind of the reader- usually ‘abstract’ concepts
- e.g. (‘rose’ connotes beauty- innocence- love..)
• 3- Iconic: the image created by the sign - e.g. ‘onomatopoeia’ (whack - smack)- the recurrent ‘s’ sound in poem ‘crushing
image’ Thus type of meaning depends on the context
Cultural Encodings
• Code: Language (either written, spoken, sign language...)- ( can also refer to part of language ‘word’)
• Code cannot be separated from its meaning.• How does a ‘code’ get a ‘meaning’? • Every culture associates specific ‘meanings’ to their code
- e.g. differences in the sign ‘table’ in English and Polish• Cultural encodings can also change over time in the
same language.- e.g. German sign for ‘happiness’- ‘soul’ ‘mind’ in Russian
• Speech community
• Discourse community
• Cultural literacy: the body of knowledge that is shared by all members of a given culture. / subject to change over time ‘poem’
• Example of culturally informed icons: Onomatopoeia : words that link objects to sounds / i.e. words that imitate sound/ e.g. ‘bash-mash-smash-crash’
Semantic Cohesion
• In any language, Semantic cohesion is established by:1- cohesive devices (co-text)
2- prior text (community’s memory/ connections)
3- metaphors (e.g. shooting down someone’s argument)
The non-arbitrary nature of signs
• Signs have no natural connection with the outside world arbitrary
• Native speakers do not feel that words are arbitrary signs natural (feel its non-arbitrary)
• Why?– Reason of the Naturalization of culturally created
signs their motivated nature.
– Motivated by the desire of language users to communicate and influence others.
– The linguistic sign is therefore a ‘motivated’ sign.
SYMBOLS
• Overtime, ‘signs’ become:– 1- naturalized– 2- conventionalized (following an accepted
standard/ general agreement)– Symbols: Signs are Taken out of their original
context (lose their denotative and/or connotative meaning) and used as a symbolic shorthand/ example of conventionalized signs.– The recurrence of ;symbols’ shapes the
memory of their users.
• Symbol: a thing that represents something else, usually sth physical that represents sth more abstract.
• They help us communicate thoughts & feelings
• Types: visual (heart) / written (an image, setting..in book)
• What it represents depends on context surrounding it.
• Clip (symbols & symbolism)/ symbols
Stereotypes• Is a belief that all members of a specific group
share similar traits and tend to behave in a same way.
• A type of ‘symbolic language’• Frozen signs in a culture• Usually promotes negative themes in a culture• Clip (mute)
