Semiotica

What Semiotics has discovered (…) is that the law governing or, if ones prefers, the major constraint
affecting any social practice lies in the fact it signifies In other words, nobody just talks. Every speech-act
includes the transmission of messages through languages of gestures, posture, clothing, hair style, perfume,
accent (…), over and above, under and beneath, even at cross-purposes with what words actually say (…)”

“Semiotics is a different way of looking at the world to find hidden commercial opportunities. It's based on
analysing signs - images, words, feelings, influences - within culture that hold collective meaning. Signs are
often taken for granted, yet vitally important.

• Semiotics is the science of signs and meanings, based on logic and understood as the science of Language.

What is a sign?
Some important sources: Bochenski (1968: 8384), cited by Nöth 1995: 15, says that for Stoics the sign"links
together" three components: (1) the material signifier (shmainon) (2) the signified or meaning
(shmainomenon), (3) the external object (tugcanon)

CHARLES SANDERS PEIRCE

Uma ciência dos signos
• o que é um signo?
"Nothing is a sign unless it is interpreted as a sign"

A sign is something that, in a certain aspect or way, represents something to someone. It addresses
someone, that is, it creates, in that person's mind, an equivalent sign, or perhaps a
more developed sign. I call the sign thus created the interpretant of the first
sign. The sign represents something, its object. Represents your object not in
all its aspects, but as a reference to a type of idea that I sometimes
I called the foundation of representation

the triadic organization of signs (Pierce)

- REPRESENTATION (Perceptible object)
- OBJECT (referent)
- INTERPRETANT (meaning)

Contributions (relevant)for a science of Signs

the SIGN (or REPRESENTAMEN) is directly linked to the foundation, the object and the interpretant

FERDINAND DE SAUSSURE
Saussure's theory
• Binary structure
• Deletion of the reference
• A structural conception of meaning/signification

semiology
A science that studies the life of signs, within social life. Such science
it would be part of social psychology, therefore of general psychology. We will call you
semiology (from the Greek semeîon, sign). It will teach us what the
signs and what laws govern them. Since it doesn't exist yet, you can't
say what will come to be, but it has the right to exist, and its place is determined.
Linguistics is nothing more than this general science. The laws that semiology discovers
will be applied to linguistics, and this is how linguistics will find itself linked to a
well-defined domain in the set of human facts.

a sign is made up of two parts: acoustic image and concept.

Valor do signo [language=co]

A gentleman is an eagle that others don't know
The value of a [linguistic] sign depends on the value of its others

mutability & immutability

[Linguistic] signs are immutable,
socially regulated
[Linguistic] signs are mutable,
languages change over time

“a table is a table” : significant m-e-s-a / meaning is the image of the table

Pres 5-6

In the linguistic system, the relationship between signifier and signified is arbitrary.
/conventional
• Question: Always? On any system?
In the linguistic system, the signifier has a linear nature
• Question: Always? On any system?
In the linguistic system, signs are mutable and immutable
• Question: Always? On any system?
In the linguistic system, signs are characterized by their value
• Question: Always? On any system?

“Anyone who has ever been interested in the current problems of semiology, you can no longer tie your tie,
all mornings in front of the mirror, without having the clear sensation of being make an ideological choice,
or at least launch a message, an open letter to passersby, and to all who come come across him during the
day.”
semiology
A science that studies the life of signs, within social life. Such science
it would be part of social psychology, therefore of general psychology. We will call you
semiology (from the Greek semeîon, sign). It will teach us what the
signs and what laws govern them. Since it doesn't exist yet, you can't
say what will come to be, but it has the right to exist, and its place is determined.
Linguistics is nothing more than this general science. The laws that semiology discovers
will be applied to linguistics, and this is how linguistics will find itself linked to a
well-defined domain in the set of human facts.

ROLAND BARTHES
How is the sign characterized?
clothing?*
It is made up of a Significant (sentence) and a Meaning (proposition);
The signifier of the clothing sign is the Linguistic Sign
The System of Fashion - Barthes [1967] 1981
- Sign is the union of signified and signifier. p. 239
- The sign 'clothing' can comprise several fragments of meaning (combinations of semantic units).
(combinations of semantic units). p. 239
- The sign 'dress' is a complete syntagm, formed by a
syntax of elements.

O Sistema da Moda – Barthes [1967] 1981 O Vestuário (a Moda) pode ser visto a partir de dois conjuntos
(de informação) diferentes:

The prints have triumphed in racing horses - SET A

That all women shorten their skirts to the knee, adopt the squares and wear practical shoes - SET B

Linguistic sign and clothing sign

Meaning (concept) & Signifier (acoustic image) Meaning (Proposition) & Signifier (Phrase)
The relationship between meaning and significant The Signifier of the clothing sign is the
is unmotivated sign
The relationship between Signifier and Signified is
unmotivated
It has linear properties It has linear properties
It is sensitive to change (it changes slowly) It is sensitive to change (it changes
Change is socially controlled quickly)
Change is socially validated
The Linguistic Sign has value (it is defined by The Clothing Sign has no value
value, i.e.: a sign is that which (thanks to its instability: the concept of
others are not concept is not fixed, it is not permanent, it is not
generalizable

"Anyone who has once taken an interest in the current problems of semiology can no longer tie their tie
every morning in front of the mirror without morning in front of the mirror, without getting the clear feeling
that they are making an ideological choice, or at least launching a message, an open letter to passers-by,
and to all those who cross his path during the day” Umberto Eco

Pres 7-8
From Peirce to the 21st century Abduction as method for the analysis of signs