Semiotics Basics
Semiotics Basics
The Who, What, Where, When, and Why of Semiotics
Beginnings
Way back in the mists of time, a philosopher called John Locke had this crazy idea that it would be useful to come up with a way of studying signs. It’s not like signs are some new-fangled thing,...
Big Players
As semiotics’ two head honchos, Ferdinand de Saussure and Charles Sanders Peirce are the theorists who have had the most impact on the field. Saussure’s model of the signifier and signified rem...
Key Debates
Semiotics is a theoretical school that’s open to a various approaches; however, one key concept that we keep coming back to is the arbitrariness of the sign. Good grief, another sign that’s not...
State of the Theory
Semiotics may not have blossomed into an academic discipline outside of its uses in literature or sociology or linguistics departments, but it has continued to play a role in theorizing and analyzi...
Talking the Talk
What is literature? For a semiotician, literature is a system of signs that’s expressed through writing. It’s not a question of whether a work is “literary”—sure, “Roses are red, violet...