Semiotics is the science that studies signs or meaning. It is divided into:
syntax (relation between signs)
semantics (relationship between sign and what it represents)
pragmatics (relation between signs and their interpreters)
Its origin is related to the philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce; considered, by some scholars, the father of general semiotics.
Read too: What are the elements of communication?
Summary on semiotics
Semiotics is the science of signs or meaning.
It is divided into: syntax, semantics and pragmatics.
The term “semiotics” was first used by Charles Sanders Peirce.
Semiotics serves to understand and improve communicative processes.
The terms "semiotics" and "semiology" are considered synonymous.
Semantics is the part of semiotics that is concerned with the meaning(s) of speech.
The linguistic sign is formed by signifier plus signified.
What is semiotics?
Semiotics is the science that studies the signs, therefore, his field of study is wide, as covers all languages (verbal and non-verbal)
, since each language is made up of signs that allow communication between individuals. This is because the signs are associated with some kind of representation. By that we mean that signs are telltale signs of something, within a given sociocultural context.The signs can be seen everywhere and are related to natural and cultural elements. Therefore, they are signs, for example: a color, a gesture, a word, a noise, a smell, a letter, an event, a song, a look, etc. According to the context in which they are inserted, we always associate with them some meaning.
divisions of semiotics
Syntax: studies the relationships between signs.
Semantics: is concerned with the relationship between signs and what they designate or represent.
pragmatics: seeks to understand the relationship between signs and their interpreters or users.
See too: Differences between literary language and non-literary language
Origin of semiotics
Semiotics emerged in linguistic studies and had its heyday in the 1960s, with the researches of the Lithuanian Algirdas Julius Greimas (1917-1992). However, the word "semiotics" was first used by the American philosopher and linguist Charles Sanders Frirce (1839-1914).
What is semiotics for?
semiotics serves to understand the signs and, based on this, improve communication. Thus, it is also useful in the analysis of human behavior and the organization of society, since languages are instruments for the expression of thoughts and emotions. It is also used in the understanding and improving social media, and may be associated with the following areas, among others:
computing
Right
Architecture
Art
Linguistics
Literature
Advertising
Philosophy
Psychoanalysis
education
Semiotics or semiology
“Semiotics” and “semiology” are synonymous words nowadays. The term “semiology” was used by the Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure(1857-1913), who understood it as a science of communication; later, it came to be understood also as the science of meaning.
Nonetheless, scholars in other countries used the term "semiotics". So, some researchers, such as Roman Jakobson (1896-1982) and Greimas, in 1969, chose to use only the word “semiotics” and no longer “semiology”.
Semiology and semantics
THE semiology or semiotics, originally, is related to the recognition of the sign, to the form, so that understands meaning as something conceptual, intralinguistic or intratextual.
Already semantics is related to discourse, which depends on what is extralinguistic or extratextual, as meaning is constructed in a communicative situation, in a specific context. To learn more about this area of grammar, read the text: Semantics.
Importance of semiotics
Since we can find signs everywhere, semiotics is associated with various areas ofOknowledge. Thus, it is a science of great importance for understanding communicative phenomena of a natural or cultural nature. Through it, it is possible understand the mechanisms of human and animal communication, associated with thoughts, emotions or instincts.
Linguistics and Semiotics
In linguistics, Saussure brings the idea that a sign is formed per:
a signifier (form or "acoustic image")
a meaning (concept)
For example, the word “heaven” is a signifier, whereas what it refers to is the signified. Thus, the linguistic sign is studied from a syntactic, semantic and pragmatic perspective.
semiotics and communication
The study of communication encompasses not only the means of communication, but communication itself, that is, the production and dissemination of information in a given context. The existence of communication depends on the language, which, in turn, is made up of signs. Therefore, since semiotics is the science of signs or signification, communication and semiotics are intrinsically related..
by Warley Souza
Portuguese teacher
