Introduction to Cultural Studies Making Meaning: Introduction to Semiotics

THERE ARE NO HIDDEN MEANINGS IN A TEXT

Semiotics 'science of signs' Ferdinand de Saussure Course in General Linguistics (1916)

SIGN a word (either written or spoken), an image or a sound (could also be a smell or a texture but we are primarily interested in visual signs)

DOG CAT

DOG D – O - G Four legs Tail Barks Not cat Not wolf not bog (or god) Signifier (Code) Signified (Concept)

CAT C-A-T Signifier (Code) Signified (Concept)

CAT C-A-T Signifier (Code) Signified (Concept)

The relationship between signifier and signified is arbitrary There is no necessary relationship between d-o-g and  Signified and signifier are inseparable  Language means negatively, ie., in terms of what it is not  Signs acquire meaning through difference  Meaning is an agreement between a community of language speakers  Texts are complex networks of signs

Denotative Level of Signification Signifier (code) CAT C – a – t Signified (concept) Four legs Tail Miaows Not dog Not tiger Not bat +

Connotative Level of Signification DenotationConnotation Feminine Independent Stealthy unlucky (black ones) Sensuous Natural enemy of mice Witches’ familiar Household Pet Given to smiling (if Cheshire) 9 lives Four legs Tail Miaows Not dog Not tiger not bat

Connotative Level of Signification DenotationConnotation Four legs Tail Barks Not cat Not wolf not bog (or god)

Connotative Level of Signification DenotationConnotation protective faithfull trusting aggressive helpful brave masculine Four legs Tail Barks Not cat Not wolf not bog

Connotative level of signification characterised by: Polysemy – there are multiple (and often contradictory) readings Anchorage – context (network of signs) suggests a preferred reading (but we can choose to analyse it on the basis of a resistant reading) Intertextuality – Texts borrow meaning from other texts (eg., the bible) Mythology – Connotations determined by dominant ideology.

Roland Barthes, Mythologies (1957) Myth = 'depoliticised speech' (naturalisation of that which is not natural, thus hiding effects of power) For Barthes, semiotics becomes a tool of political analysis