Semiotic Terms From Avf

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SIGNIFIER

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Any material this that signifies, e.g., words on a page, a facial expression, an image.

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SIGNIFIED

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The concept that a signifier refers to.

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SIGN

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THE SMALLEST UNIT OF MEANING. ANything that can be usd to communicate (or tell a lie)

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SYMBOLIC (ARBITRARY) SIGNS

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Signs where the relation between signifier and signified is purely conventional and culturally specific, ie most words

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ICONIC SIGNS

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Signs where the signifier resembles the signified.

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INDEXICAL SIGNS

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Signs where the signifier is caused by the signified eg smoke signals fire

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DENOTATION

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The most basic literal meaning of a sign, eg, the word rose signifies a particular kind of flower

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CONNOTATION

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The secondary, cultural meanings of signs; or signified signs,eg, rose signifies passion

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METONYMY

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A kind of connotation where in one sign is substituted for another with which it is closely associated, eg, Washing for US government

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SYNECDOCHE

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A kind of connotation in which a part is used for the whole (as hand for sailor)

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PARDIGMATIC RELATIONS

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Where signs get meaning from their association with other signs

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SYNTAGMATIC RELATIONS

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Where signs get meaning from their sequential order, eg, grammar of the sequence of events that make up a story

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MYTHS

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A combination of paradigms and syntagms that make up an oft told story with elaborate cultural associations.

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CODES

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A combination of semiotic systems, a supersystem, that function as genera maps of meaning, beleif systems about oneself and others, which imply views and attitudes about how the world is and/or ought to be.

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IDEOLOGIES

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Codes that reinforce or are congruent with structures of power. Ideology works largely by creating forms of "common sense," of taken-for-granted every day life.