Monday, February 2, 2009

What is Semiotics?

All three articles on semiotics went hand in hand in terms of describing what semiotics is. A general definition, according to all of the authors, would be that semiotics is the study of signs, which it is, but there is also a lot more to it. Semiotics deals with not only signs, but the interpretations, responses, and the language that comes with it. Eugene Gorny classifies three definitions of semiotics in different contexts. Chandler on the other hand, talks about the historical context of semiotics. Something that interested me was what Ponzio and Petrilli said about signs and interpretations. They state that, "The interpretant of a sign is another sign, which the previous sign creates in the interpreter." So basically, the formations of signs and interpretations is a repetitive cycle. In regards to all the writer's definitions of a sign, can't anything that can communicate and be interpreted be a sign--which would be anything and everything in the present world?

Here is a video that demonstrates how signs are interpreted differently.

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