INTRODUCTION . ICON, INDEX AND SYMBOL . THE SEMIOTIC MODEL . DENOTATION AND CONNOTATION . PARADIGM AND SYNTAGM . ABSTRACTION . METAPHOR . METONYMY . MYTH

SIGNS AND LANGUAGE

We use certain "signs" among ourselves that do not point to anything in our actual surroundings. Instead of announcers of things, they are reminders ... they take the place of things that we have perceived in the past, or even things that we can merely imagine by combining memories, things that might be in the past or future experience. They serve to let us develop a characteristic attitude toward objects in absentia, which is called "thinking of" or "referring to" what is not here. --Suzzane Langer 1016

Human beings possess the ability to notice patterns in their environments. When the perception of these patterns leads to the interpretation of new information in the context of previous knowledge, we might say that meaning occurs. The notion of meaning, or the making sense out of one's information, is an important aspect of human communication.

There is little agreement as to how the term "meaning" should be defined, nor is there agreement as to how meaning is created, preserved and destroyed in the midst of the communication process. However, attempts to reconcile these disagreements have led to the development of a number of differing points-of-view. Important among these are the following:

• that meaning is contained in the patterns themselves,
• that meaning is created entirely in the minds of the individual senders and receivers,
• that meaning arises from the social interactions of the communicators.

Such a statement as "The word 'cat' stand for a certain small mammal" is not either true or false. Its truth depends upon agreement between the speakers that it be true. In terms of such agreement they understand each other; or where disagreement occurs they will meet with misunderstanding. --Gregory Bateson

A sign is a pattern of data which, when perceived, brings to mind something other than itself.

Although this definition appears simple on the surface, it has complex implications. Please pause to look at Figure 1 for a moment or two.

Now, briefly, and to yourself describe the thoughts that Figure 1 brought to your mind. It may help if you write these down.

...........waiting.............

... please look at the picture and form your

                   thoughts before you continue ...

..................................

This situation illustrates the three fundamental building blocks which, together with the rules that describe how they relate to one another, will be used to construct the Semiotic Model of Communication.

• The first of these building blocks is the data, or the perceived pattern of dark-on-light, that to an observer "is" Figure 1. This will be called the sign.
• The second building block is the real-world animal that Figure 1 resembles. This will be called the object. In the terminology of the semiotic model the sign is said to "refer to" its object -- similarly, the object is sometimes called the "referent" of the sign.
• The third building block is the thought that forms in the mind of a reader as he or she gazes at Figure 1. This will be called the concept.

At the beginning of the exercise, did this sign: , bring to mind a large, African or Indian animal? Or memories of a trip to the zoo? Or images recalled from a favorite book read as a child, or a television show, or a movie...? Perhaps it brings to mind an American political party; or perhaps the notion of memory (as in: "a large animal with a trunk and big ears that never forgets ..."). Notice that whatever the sign brings to mind, the concept is related to the reader's past experience with the object.

This is always the case with signs, and one of the advantages of the semiotic model lies in its ability to highlight relationships among the sign, the concepts the sign brings to mind and the experience of the reader. The next picture illustrates this relationship.

ICON, INDEX AND SYMBOL

1004

It might be that one day during a trip to the zoo, the reader saw a large animal -- and so later when he or she sees a printed image that resembles the animal, that earlier experience is brought to mind.

Connection-by-resemblance is one of the three fundamental ways that signs, concepts and experiences relate. This particular kind of sign is called an icon. If a sign is a perception that refers to, or brings to mind, something other than itself, an icon is a type of sign that resembles the thing that it refers to. Thus, is an icon because it resembles the animal that it brings to mind. 1020

You may have noticed that in our discussion of , we have carefully refrained from using the word elephant. The reason for this is that the word #elephant# is itself a sign, though a different kind of sign than .

Note: what do the #s mean in the last paragraph?

This second type of sign is called a symbol. Symbols and the objects that they bring to mind are related in an arbitrary manner. This means that there is no known reason why the symbol and the object are related. For example, there is no reason why the large animal under discussion might not be tagged by a different word -- #nordnet#, for example, or #frindlemat#, or perhaps #barracuda#. #Elephant# is used simply because over the years, it has come to be used -- no one knows why.

#Elephant# Used As A Symbol

arbitrary

A third kind of sign brings a concept to mind by means of a direct, physical connection between itself and its object. For example, if someone is walking down a street and suddenly encounters the smell of freshly baking bread, he or she might find the concept of a bakery coming to mind. This kind of sign is called an index.

The Smell of Baking Bread As An Index

To summarize -- there are three basic types of signs: the icon, the index, and the symbol. Each brings to mind concepts that are related to the perceiver's previous experience with objects in the world. Each operates in a different way:

Icon -- a sign that resembles its object

If this brings to mind a kind of fruit, it is acting as an icon. 1006

Index -- a sign that is physically connected to its object

If the rain touching your face brings to mind the nearby storm, it is acting as an index. 1005

Symbol -- a sign whose relationship to its object is arbitrary

If this brings to mind an interstate highway in the United States, it is acting as a symbol.

icon symbol index 1007 1008 1009 1019

THE SEMIOTIC MODEL

• the sign: something which is perceived, but which stands for something else,
• the concept: the thoughts or images that are brought to mind by the perception of the sign,
• the object: the "something else" in the world to which the sign refers.

This version of the semiotic model is adapted from the work of the American philosopher Charles S. Pierce. Pierce is generally acknowledged as an important pioneer in the study of signs.

Notice that

• the sign and the concept are connected by the person's perception,
• the concept and the object are connected by the person's experience,
• the sign and the object are connected by the conventions, or the culture, of the social group within which the person lives.

These connections are important to the study of how meaning arises during the daily encounters with the many signs that fill the human environment. The remaining sections of this tutorial investigate some of the ways that meaning arises as people make use of signs during the process of communication.

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• INTRODUCTION
  Human beings recognize patterns of information and organize them to generate meaning. Collections of these organized patterns form the languages that humans use when they communicate.

• DENOTATION AND CONNOTATION
  This section investigates how the semiotic process gives rise to both public and private meanings.

• PARADIGM AND SYNTAGM
  This sections presents the structures and processes by which individual signs are organized into more complicated, grouped signs.

• ABSTRACTION: METAPHOR, METONYMY, MYTH
  This section investigates some of the ways that signs help humans overcome the limitations of their perceptions.

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