Assignment 1: Signs, Icons, Symbol

Semiotics is the study of signs , scholars in this field are particularly interested in figuring out the constitution of signs and the rules governing them. Sign ,which is the basic unit of semiotics, is the composition of a material object incorporated with cultural meaning , which called ‘signifier’ and ‘signified’ in technical term respectively. The meaning of a sign would change over time , as it is mainly based on cultural conventions . According to Saussure , signs do not have essence itself, but defined by relative association with other signs . He suggested that we should think of what the signs aren’t rather than what they are , due to our contrasting mindset when thinking of concepts . Only by knowing what it isn’t, we know what it is .

 

For another scholar of modern semiotics , Peirce, he added that sign stands differently for different individuals. For example , the written word ‘ lamp ’ as a signifier , may come up in our mind primarily with its function – lighting up the surroundings in the dark , but different people may recall different image of lamp due to their own experience interacting with ‘ lamp ‘ , which can be drastically diverse when presenting it . To illustrate , the picture below shows the same google search for lamp for different nation.

Another example is that the signs of man and woman on the door of the washroom . They implied that the room is specified to particular gender or the disable . Assumingly , the sign should be significantly substitute the concept , which rely on its physical details. However , some sign are understandable to specific community sometimes fail to present the concept to outsiders and hence cause doubts or even misconceptions which leads to trouble in daily life within the community . For example, the colour used and the design to signify gender.

Peirce further divided signs into three types :  Icon , Index and Symbol . The icon implies that it shares similar physical characteristic comparing with the signified object . The superficial feature of the signifier and the signified are relatable . For example, the map shows the overview of partial region in the world . By making use of various colour , ie. Blue , green ,yellow , those indicate the river , forest and the land on scale. The structure of the map and the reality are highly associated for people to understand the landscape and the route in the region .

While for the index , the signifier and signified have causal logical connections in between . For example , when the sky is filled up with thick and dark cloud , it would probably rains in next few hours. Utilizing those sign given by nature, human can identify directions by observing stars etc.

 

Sign considered as symbol when it denotes historical and cultural conventions . We have to acquire from extrinsic environment by learning the denotation of the sign , for instance , the symbols of music notes and staff notation are tied to rhythm, tone and volume . Musician have to learn about those symbols and associate them to music , people with no prior knowledge can not tell the difference of tempo between a four fourth and a two fourths and play the song.  Additionally, symbols are not merely words , but also included gestures, drawings, mechanical devices and natural objects , making them more complicated than the former two types. On the basis of metaphoric foundation of our conceptual system according to George Lakoff and Mark Johnson , symbol also becomes specifically important as they associated and recall hidden imperatives.

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