Roland Barthes presented the postmodernist tradition with many useful terms with which to describe what is occurring semioticly within discourse. The following list covers the more useful semiological terms and more significant theorists.
Semiotics, Semiosis, Semiology: The noun form of the study of signs and signification, the process of attaching signifieds to signifiers, the study of signs and signifying systems.
- Symbol: Stands in place of an object - flags, the crucifix, bathroom door signs.
- Index: Points to something - an indicator, such as words like "big" and arrows.
- Icon: A representation of an object that produces a mental image of the object represented. For example, a picture of a tree evokes the same mental image regardless of language. The picture of a tree conjures up "tree" in the brain.
Signifier: Is in some ways a substitute. Words, both oral and written, are signifiers. The brain then exchanges the signifier for a working definition. The word "tree", for example, is a signifier. You can't make a log cabin out of the word "tree." You could, however, make a log cabin out of what the brain substitutes for the input "tree" which would be some type of signified.
Signified: What the signifier refers to (see signifier). There are two types of signifieds:
- Connotative: Points to the signified but has a deeper meaning. An example provided by Barthes is "Tree" = luxuriant green, shady, etc...
- Denotative: What the signified actually is, quite like a definition, but in brain language.
Slippage: When meaning moves due to a signifier calling on multiple signifieds. Also known as "skidding."
Discourse: Messages that serve a communicative function and are usually more complex than simple signs.
Mythic Signs: Messages that "go without saying" that reinforce the dominant values of their culture. These messages don't raise questions or inspire critical thinking.
Denotative system: A signifier, signified, and sign that together form a meaning
Second-order semiological system: Connotative system that incorporate the sign of an initial system which becomes the signifier of the second system.
Taxonomy: A kind of structural analysis where features of a semiotic system are classified.
Other Terms
Exegesis: Interpretation of content only. that searches for meaning connotatively.
Hermenuetics: Differs from exegesis in that it is less "practical." It is the text that postpones and even breaks with itself to shift meaning through slippage or skidding.
Readerly text: (from the Pleasure of the Text) Discourse that stabilizes and meets the expectations of the reader.
Writerly text: is a text that discomforts the reader and creates a subject position for him/her that is outside of his/her mores or cultural base.