into the world of semiology!

Semiology (semiotics, as it is better known in America) is concerned in interpreting signs—how meaning is constructed and understood. It involves the study not only of what we refer to as ‘signs’ in our daily conversations, but of anything which ‘stands for something else’. Its basic principle is crafted by the use of acts and objects which functions as “signs” in relation to other signs.

Originally, the studies of signs and signifying practices have been made by Ferdinand de Saussure (Swiss linguist) and Charles Sanders Pierce (American pragmatist).

Saussure coined the term “semiology” which referred earlier as the study of signs. His approach was somehow a generalization of formal, structuralist linguistics. For him, there is no relationship between the signifier and the signified. The signifier and signified are just two concepts associated with signs, and basically the study of semiotics.
The signifier is usually a word or symbol which carries the meaning, while the signified is the actual meaning embedded within it and is carried out. For example, the word “chair” does not constitute a chair or is not actually a chair—the meaning of chair is only associated by any strings of letters as to give rise to the word. It is the people who associated “c-h-a-i-r”, these five letters as to carry out the meaning of that particular word for further understanding.

On the other hand, Pierce’s idea of semiotics has been further elaborated with his definitions of the three types of signs. We have the icon, index, and symbol. His explanation of such things is mostly related to the logic of reasoning in the natural sciences. The icons are “the only means of directly communicating an idea”. Index serves as the meaning based on “cause and effect relationships” within a particular context. And the symbol carries out meanings in an arbitrary system—a way wherein natural language carries meaning.
Technically, we can say that Saussure’s system of signs may be applied to language and texts while Pierce’s explanation has a wider application—not only in language but of visual arts rather.

Signs and meanings are unlimited. It may carry out denotative or connotative meanings in some instances. In order to clarify this notion in lieu with semiotics, another study has been done by a French semiologist named Roland Barthes. His works were influenced by Saussure. Barthes is concerned in signs that are ostensibly straightforward, but which subtly communicate ideological or connotative meaning. He defined a sign as rather a combination of signifier (image) and the signified (the concept), and that the two is an inseparable bond.

In addition to it, every ideological sign is the result of two interconnected sign systems. The first system is descriptive as the signifier image and the signified concept combine to produce denotative sign. The second system appropriates the sign of denotative system and makes it the signifier of the connotative system.

Sign do not just also convey meanings, but add up a medium in which meanings are made. The system of signs is constituted by the intricate meaning—relations that can exist between one sign and another. Through the active process of interpretation, meanings are thoroughly absorbed.

Words are static, meanings are dynamic. Meanings are in people. The interpretations from the people the moment they perceive signs may vary from ones perspective to the other. Thus, the study of semiotics gives us a full understanding on the production of meaning itself.


Sources:
Griffin, Em. A First Look at Communication Theories. (7th ed.)
www.cudenver.edu/~mryder/itc_data/semiotics.htmls
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semiotics -
http://atheism.about.com/library/glossary/aesthetics/bldef-semiotics.htm.