Introduction to semiotics:
Living in the 21th century
when everything, including philosophy, techn
ology, industrialization etc. are associated with each other, demands a comprehensive understanding of concepts and meanings, their ability to change overtime and being applied or used differently. Mankind living a in a modern
world, if intending to be a man of wisdom, essentially needs to know these meanings, their intention of presentation at certain times, which are often associated with key words, allowing her to comprehend the situation. One of these key words, playing an undeniably significant role in our everyday life in different aspects, is the term Semiotics. Semiotics defines the representation of a sign as subject. A sign is the representation of a meaning or concept in different forms, such as media, text, art, music etc. In other words, Semiotic is the reason we have a specific understanding of a situation presented by sign. In our everyday life we relate our mind and action to the semiotics behinds a subject either consciously or vice versa. Semiotics, as aterm could be comprehended better when it is applied to a certain situation/ subject such as media or text.
Media and Semiotics: whatever is presented in a media, and even the medium itself brings us to a comprehension of the content and naturally affects our reaction towards it. Without semiotics, the content of media could seem meaningless and confusing. It is obviously the concept of use, and its purpose that lead us to utilize a medium. For example, the red light of the streets is designed to contribute to the unity of the street and preventing cars and people from possible accidents. By seeing the red light, we know that we are not permitted to drive or walk through the street, and when it’s green we shall move again. Here, Color as a concept is associated with an external meaning that is offered as a solution to a certain situation, which is the prevention of a messed up street. Without having the lights on the streets, every driver could let himself to drive to a different direction, without concerning its consequences. In this case, semiotics, beside its association with a medium, is also applied relating to law, which makes it necessary to be obeyed because of its functionality. Another example could be the
sound of Azan, which for Muslims works as an invitation to pray. By hearing this sound, people would know that it is time for them to pray if they are Muslim. The leads us to an interesting fact that semiotics, however considered a subject of study in the modern era, has a long root in people’s life style in the old time.
Text and semiotics:
Semiotics, when associated with text, implies on the author’s intention of writing and a possible interpretation of the person reading the words a sign. For example, the word “BANG” , written in an illustration showing a police with a gun in his hand would be followed by the meaning that the man is shooting, and BANG is the sound created because of the action. In some cases, text and media are both associated with semiotics. For example, the title “Facebook”, when read in a text reminds us of a social medium that allows interaction in a virtual social world (the concept). Without having any knowledge if Facebook and its function, the reader would not have a clear Idea of what is the meaning of the world. It is the semiotics that links the title, as a sign to its concepts of social media.
In brief, everything that we see today, has a concept that could be signified by signifier (Ferdinand de Saussure’s theory). Otherwise the interpretations may be irrelevant.
