Mr. Birch Robison

English 103

6 May 1999

"Sign"ificantly Semiotics

The Signs that Surround Us

Table of Contents

Introduction

Roland Barthes

Claude Levi-Strauss

Umberto Eco

Semiotics and Philosophy

Conclusion

 Works Cited

Introduction

Semiotics is the study of the signs, symbols and representations(or icons)that a society employs in its particular communication system. The word semiotics was coined in the early 1900's by the Swiss linguist, Ferdinand de Saussure.

It is derived from the Greek word sign (see online dictionary) and thus, aptly named. This field encompasses all aspects of languages and the cultures that create them. Of particular concern to the semiotics student in America, would be the messages within his or her own society. In a world that is increasing its use of icons and imagery daily with Internet "surfers" and p.c. users, it would be so beneficial to study and define these images in considerably more depth.

Nowadays the subject of violence (in reference to campus violence that seems to be sweeping the American nation) has reared its ugly head, and should be every citizen's concern of what sort of messages that they are projecting to their children, to each other and to every other nation in our newly formed global society. This in itself should convince a public that it is in its best interests to take the field of semiotics as a serious, legitimate and enlightening study.

1. Roland Barthes

This is what Roland Barthes, a semiotician (in every sense of the word for he loved to anayze every little trivial sign of every sort), had in mind when he proposed that not only does a society's language project a message, but the very way they dress, and act are subtle signs that should be revealed and analyzed.

In his Mythologies Barthes uses a very good example: the fact that a monk was running around in France (McNeil. La culture en question(Review of Mythologies),Interrogating the Obvious) doing charitable works and the public was beginning to view the monk as a symbol for charity. Barthes' claim is that the monk's very presention becomes symbolic in itself of charity, honesty, and piety.

Therefore the public begins to view all representations of such to be authentic, even though that may yet have to be proved, and often is not the case. The public inadvertently leaves it self wide open to being duped by dubious representations, as in the case of a dishonest citizen donning the garb of a pious citizen and becoming the veritable wolf in sheep's clothing.

It is interesting to note that the writings of Barthes about post-war France in the 19^th century are claimed by some to have remained remarkably valid and applicable (McNeil) to today's society. Barthes claims to be a mythologist and, as such, is committed to exposing the myths surrounding society that makes it act in a certain manner. In his writings about post-war France, Roland Barthes "broke new ground at the time. …(and)showed that is was possible to read the 'trivia' of everyday life as full of meanings." (McNeil)

A very good example this same student uses is cars as a semiotic statement of how an automobile-dependent society represents itself with the model the individual chooses. He proposes that while driving a Porsche may signify a racy, rich lifestyle or inclinations of the driver, a more modest choice of say, a Nissan may signify the more modest lifestyle choices of its driver. This is not to say that such a generality is always true, only that it is worth noting and commenting upon.

Another student(B. Menpes,Ideologies,and Responsibility-Derrida, Barthes and a question of Method) writes:

"The relationship between language and experience which was exposed by the revolution of May 1968 can, perhaps, best be understood through the work of a privileged observer: Roland Barthes. In "Writing the Event" (The Rustle of Language , pp 149-154), Barthes attempts to analyse the language of the event, how a particular semantics gave the event identity, and how the failure of the event was inextricably linked with the form or structure this communication gave to the force of the revolution. The initial liberation, exemplified by a certain disintegration of language, was quickly reconstituted through an acceptance of a mimetic notion of speech and experience - where the reports on the radio were accepted as the direct experience of the event. This mode of communication was then structured into a rhetoric, a writing, a symbology, which engendered "a kind of almost unanimous adherence to one and the same symbolic discourse (which) seems to have finally marked partisans and adversaries of the contestation: almost all played the same symbolic game" (pp 152-153)."

His comments support the previous mention that trivialities prevail throughout Barthes' works, yet it is exactly this kind of interpretation that society needs to be aware, so as to best present the messages that it intends to project. The importance of studying the signs, symbols and representations that a society chooses to project itself cannot be stressed overly enough.

This should reveal to the skeptic just exactly the kind of import that semiotcs carries.

Another great semiotician, although there is an abundance of such, is Claude Levi-Strauss. It is very interesting to note that the very name Levi(s) brings to most minds today a picture of the ever popular denims or blue jeans.

The word blue jeans was not even in use until the 1960's, but it was in the late 1800,s that a different Levi Strauss created the waist overalls, as they were first referred as, which became popular as signifying the working or rugged masculine man. This is semiotics in creation, the invention of a word, what it truly denotes, and the resultant connotation it ends up signifying.

Although it is never stated in any studies, Levi-Strauss, a French semiotician could not have failed to miss the fact that his own name could be semiotically linked to a popular item of apparel. He maintained that every cultural pattern in the world was universally linked in that all thought and communications processes are universal. His main focus tended to be in the direction of the myths and beliefs that a society creates and the language development that follows.

III. Umberto Eco

Another interesting aspect of semiotics is held by the renowned semioticain, Umberto Eco. In this interview he gives his opinion about the Internet, which he says in so many words that it can be overwhelming in the information it has to offer. He goes on to discuss the fact that the Net needs a filter system (that would be derived from semiotics) to remain invaluable to the seeker of knowledge, otherwise the seeker will become so bogged down with entries, he becomes paralyzed with too much information.

Umberto Eco, a professor of semiotics at the University of Bologna, is the author of The Name of the Rose, which was made into a popular movie starring Sean Connery. For the remaining skeptic, it should be obvious by now that Sean Connery is practically synonymous with quality pictures, making a semiotic statement concerning media; he is an icon of adventure movies. Eco's entire focus during the writing of The Rose was semiotic content, and he succeeded. It is a novel ripe with messages, signs, symbols: everything that semiotics has to offer.

Eco offers many opportunities of semiotic usage- the computer world is vastly dependent upon icons and representational acronyms, which is creating its own vocabulary as this is written. There are various fields of cultural study which warrant much more interest in semiotics than has been previously displayed.

IV. Semiotics and Philosophy

Semiotics offers a way of categorizing philosophies within the sphere of developments of communications. In some dictionaries, under the entry word semiotics, the seeker may be referred to semantics, which is but a branch of linguistics. According to the Encarta Encyclopedia, there are various branches of linguistics, which is just one of the many offshoots of semiotics.

For instance, sociolinguistics, the study of the patterns and variations in language within a society that tends to focus on the way people use language to express social class, group status, gender, or ethnicity. Semiotics strives to do the same within the context of how the particular group dresses or "signs" each other, and a host of other signals, which would in turn signify meaningful interpretation to the studious.

Semantics is the study of relationships between signs and symbols and what they represent. In this sense it is a branch of semiotics, for semiotics would take up just where semantics would leave off. There can be no doubt as to the significance of semantics in cultural studies. Other significant studies into the nature of the human mind are to be found under headings such as structuralism, , linguistics, and pragmatism.

Pragmatics is the creation of Charles Sanders Pierce, who was an all around genius. There was not a subject that this man did not have a hand in improving in some, usually valuable, fashion. Although he ended living his life in abject poverty in 1914, Pierce was recognized during his lifetime as a semiotician and quite literally, a genius. Pierce believed, as do most semioticians, in the value of semiotics in cultural studies. His most convincing arguments stem from the system of beliefs incorporated by any one society are actually represented by the doubts that society has banished on that particular belief system.

It appears as though semiotics is derived from and encompasses quite a degree of philosophy within its parameters. This would be one its aspects as we strive to understand society, its messages, and communication systems. The benefits gained from such studies are of interest to philosophers, anthropologists, linguists, media salesmen, and semioticians, equally and alike, and that's just a small sampling of interested parties. Semiotics should interest anyone who is interested in the "meanings of meanings."

V. Conclusion

Most of these men who promoted and defined this field of semiotics were, and are, philosophers and/or professors of some related field in either the humanities or English, and surprisingly enough, in mathematics. This field offers a wide variety of interests as it struggles to define itself, and discovers there is always more, rather than less, to add to this provocative expanse of studying just what it is that we mean.

It should be noted that in America where our value systems are highly esteemed, that semiotics offers a convenient category where studies of our cultural effects upon the present and future generations, can be tidily assimilated. This field has been overlooked for the importance it could achieve, since it is inclusive of most aspects of the humanities, such as anthropology, literature (who else could prepare any text messages), psychology (who best to determine what message is being sent), philosophy (who better to determine the message), and so the list grows on.

For purposes of studying any aspect of culture, what a society seems to be saying, and what in effect is actually being read, this is an ongoing fascination for all who are curious about such matters and should be categorized as semiotics in action. This should make it apparent what a relevant topic semiotics could be.

Anyone curious about his own neighbors, school or work chums, or just society in general would do well to take more than just a mere glimpse into this ever expanding cultural research called semiotics. Semiotics is a serious branch of literature and philosophy, though, not to be taken frivolously. It has its own vocabulary and particulars that make it the "discipline" that it is. Semiotics becomes the way to define the meaning in a meaning, so to speak.

If there remains any doubt as to the authenticity of such a word as semiotician, several of these men (de Saussuree, Barthes, Eco, Levi-Strauss, and Pierce, to name but a few) are actually listed as such in the Collier's World Encyclopedia.

For maximum benefit to the reader it is hoped that this text is viewed in the hypertext format, so as to gain as much information as possible from the hyperlinks presented. It is also hoped that this paper would serve to make more fellow society members aware of what semiotics is and what is "going on" around us.

Works Cited

Colon, Carlos."Communication Science vs. Semiotics" Semiotics Online. Available: http://php.indiana.edu/~ccolon/Semiotics/ccolon1.html(5-03-99)

Coppock, Patrick. "Eco discusses the Internet." Online Available: http://www.cudenver.edu/~mryder/itc_data/eco/eco.html(5-03-99)

Eco Links. The Italian Academy for Advanced Studies
at Columbia University Online Available: http://www.italynet.com/columbia/ecolinks.htm(5-03-99)

Halton, Eugene. "Pierce:A Brief Outline of His Philosophy." Online Available: http://www.nd.edu/~ehalton/Peirce.htm(5-03-99)

Heartland, James." Profile of Claude Levi-Strauss." Online Available: http://www.heartfield.demon.co.uk/levi.htm(5-03-99)

Mc Neil. La culture en question.(Review of Mythologies). Lecture1-"Interrogating the Obvious". Online Available: http://orac.sund.ac.uk/~os0tmc/myth.htm(5-03-99)

Mileaf, Janine. "On the Science of the Concrete." Online Available: http://dept.english.upenn.edu/~jenglish/Courses/mileaf.html (5-03-99)

Muffoletto, Robert. "Conceptual Framework." Online Available: http://muffoletto.coe.uni.edu/summer96/conceptual_framework.html(5-03-99)

Semiotics- homepage. Online Available: http://www.arts.ouc.bc.ca/fiar/glossary/s_list.htmlsemiotics(5-03-99)

Sewell, Edd. "The Study of the Sign." Online Available: http://www.comm.vt.edu/comm_2034/semiotics/semiotics.html(5-03-99)

Williams, James. "The Sum of the Myth." Online Available: http://www-phil.philengl.dundee.ac.uk/staff/jrw/semiolog/mtpart1.htm(5-03-99)

Words of Art. Online Available:

Wright, Ron and Mary Flores. "Comm. 300- Semiotic Terminology." Online Available: http://www.ic.arizona.edu/~comm300/mary/semiotics/barthes.terms.html (5-03-99)