September Blog Post

Blog Post 2

Imagine a soft, furry animal curled up on the couch next to you, purring loudly. I didn’t say a cat, but that’s most likely what you pictured, right? A term from class that I decided to focus on is semiotics, or the study of signs. The textbook defines semiotics as “The structure of language,” as well as giving us some background on the concept. Originally it was studied by Ferdinand de Saussure, who questioned how we could understand language using symbols and the objects they represent. Saussure wanted to understand how a specific word comes to mind systematically representing an object. Along with semiotics come three interrelated parts that are also important to understand; the signifier, signified, and sign.

The signifier can be understood as the form which a sign takes, such as a word or image. The signified, on the other hand, is the mental concept, or meanings, represented by the signifier. For example, if we hear the word “cat,” we may think of our childhood pet cat or maybe if you’re afraid of cats you might instantly be reminded of a bad experience with cats. The sign, then, is a recognizable combination of the signifier and signified. This would be the mental images of all the cats you see in your head as a result of the signifier and signified.

We experience semiotics in lots of art pieces through the use of specific colors or other symbols. For example, many paintings use the color white to signify purity. We see the color white (signifier), maybe associate it with bright lights, clean linens, or baby bunnies (signified), ultimately thinking of purity or cleanliness. We also see this technique constantly in media advertising, and throughout our daily lives. For instance, every time we stop at a stop sign or red light we are experiencing semiotics. We see the sign or light itself (signifier), associating the color red with danger, importance, or urgency (signified), and know that this means to brake. This concept is very important in society because it helps us communicate and understand more efficiently, and follow important social rules like stopping at a light or stop sign.