semiotics

Semiotics is the theory of the production and interpretation of meaning. It's basic principle is that meaning is made by the deployment of acts and objects which function as "signs" in relation to other signs. Systems of signs are constituted by the complex meaning-relations that can exist between one sign and another, primarily relations of contrast and superordination/subordination (e.g. class/member, whole/part). Signs are deployed in space and time to produce "texts", …

…is distinction is not always preserved (even Saussure and Peirce were sometimes guilty of this). In the Saussurean framework, for instance, the distinction between the sign and the signifier can become unclear. To reiterate: the signifier (or sign vehicle) is merely the form in which the sign appears (such as the spoken or written form of a word) whereas the sign is the whole meaningful ensemble (including both the signifier and the signified). ------------------------------------------------------------------------ **Bibliography**