Semiology: Signs & Language.

Semiology, a concept established by Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913) described to be, "“A science that studies the life of signs within society. Semiology investigates the nature of signs and the laws that govern them” (Critical Media Studies, p. 101). As stated in class, the importance of semiology lays in the fact that it permits us to understand and analyze culture as if it were a language. Signs clarify our understanding, they indicate what we are trying to express through language, symbolizing a specific meaning. It proposes the question: if signs did not exist, how would life be? How would we know what to do, when too much is enough or is not enough? Basically, how do we know? There are three characteristics of signs: a. Arbitrary, b. Linear and c. Difference.

According to our Critical Media Studies textbook, Arbitrary is "the meaning of a sign is dependent on its social, historical and cultural context.", Linear means that signifiers operate in a chain which changes the meaning of what is being said and finally Difference associates with the way one sign recalls the other, even if it is not present. "Meaning is made through absence. Meaning is made through difference." If we cannot distinguish one word from another then we cannot communicate. For example, the meaning of “man” is defined through difference and by its opposite: woman. To be a man is not to be a woman. We require one to know about the other. Media associates with this concept in terms of the types of information and data they present to the world.

                                                "This idea of binary oppositions is very important."

Taken from powerpoint, copyright to Professor Petit.