Semiotics

What is Semiotics?

Semiotics is the science of communication and sign systems, in short, of the ways people understand phenomena and organize them mentally, and of the ways in which they devise means for transmitting that understanding and for sharing it with others. Although natural and artificial languages are therefore central to semiotics, its field covers all non-verbal signalling and extends to domains whose communicative dimension is perceived only unconsciously or subliminally. Knowledge, meaning, intention and action are thus fundamental concepts in the semiotic investigation of phenomena.


Signifier:
The signifier is the image itself, like a joke without the punch-line. It is what makes the sign and what attracts the audience of the viewer of the sign. Whilst the Signifier might seem like it has nothing in common with the signified, the two are connected and to have one you need the other. Although Signifiers (unlike signified) aren't confined to words it cannot not have self-representation because frankly it is just a word, an image, a meaningless form etc.


Signified:
The signified gives interpretation and even meaning to the signifier. If you have a Signifier on it's own it doesn't have any complex meaning or it's difficult or maybe even impossible to understand or interpret. For example, if you have a brutal image of a soldier fighting in Iraq, the Signifier would be the image of the soldier himself. It may be the thing that moves or even inspires the viewer but the Signified is what represents this image... In the image the Signified would be "The heroic, young, fearless leader fights for survival in the dilapidated hellhole. The difference between the Signifier and the Signified is that the Signifier never changes for anyone. The difference is that the Signified variates with different people because it is based on opinions, thoughts and emotions. With a certain image it will affect or move or shock or scare a lot of people in a lot of different ways because of the way that person interprets it.


Sign:
A sign is the result of the combination of the Signifier and the Signified. They call the relationship between the two 'Signification'. To make a sign you must have the both the Signifier and the Signified, the form and the concept combined for completion of a sign.