Semiotics Part 1

Semiotics is the science of signs. There are two parts to a sign and there are three types of signs.

The two parts of a sign are the signifier and the signified. In this example:



The signifier is a cigarette with a strike through it. The signified is "smoking is not permitted here". So, the signifier is what you see, the signified is the meaning you take from a sign.

The different types of sign are iconic, indexical and symbolic. In the example above two different types of sign are being employed. We have the iconic part, which is the image of a cigarette, and then the red circle with a strike through it is symbolic. An icon is what it represents, so a picture of a cigarette means cigarette, a picture of a dog means dog. Symbols are signs that we have been told the meaning of, so a red circle with a strike through it means "do not do"; This is something that people need to have learnt to understand the sign. An indexical sign is a sign where the signifier relates to the signified, an example would be footprints in sand which is a signifier for "someone has walked here".