Charles Pierce - Semiotics - Language Essay

Charles Pierce
Semiotics

According to philosopher Charles Pierce, "we only think in signs". Signs, in this case, take the form of words, images, sounds, odours, flavours, acts or objects, but such things have no intrinsic meaning and become signs only when we invest them with meaning and become signs only when we invest them with meaning.

"Nothing is a sign unless it is interpreted as a sign" - Pierce 1931

Anything can be a sign as long as someone interprets it as 'signifying' something - referring to or standing for something other than itself. We interpret things as sings largely unconsciously by relating them to familiar systems of conventions. It is this meaningful use of sings which is at the heart of the concerns of semiotics.

Charles stated that there were 3 types of sign:

1. Icon/iconic - a mode in which the signifier is perceived as resembling or imitating the signified (recognisably looking, sounding, feeling, tasting or smelling like it) - being similar in possessing some of its qualities. E.g. a portrait, a cartoon, a scale-model, onomatopoeia, metaphors, 'realistic' sounds in programme music, sound effects in radio drama, a dubbed film soundtrack, imitative gestures etc.
2. Index/indexical - a mode in which the signifier is not arbitrary but is directly connected in some way (physically or casually) to the signified - think link can be observed of inferred: e.g. 'natural signs' like smoke, thunder, footprints, echoes, non-synthetic odours and flavours), medical symptoms such as pain, a rash, pulse rate, measuring instruments like a thermometer, a clock, spirit level etc. 
3.   Symbol/symbolic: a mode in which the signifier does not resemble the signified but which is fundamentally arbitrary or purely conventional - so that the relationship must be learnt: e.g. the language in general (plus specific languages, alphabetical letters, punctuation marks, words, phrases and sentences), numbers, morse code, traffic lights, national flags etc.

Denotation, Connotation and Myth

• In semiotics, denotation and connotation are terms describing the relationship between the signifier and its signified, and an analytic distinction is made between two types of signifieds: a denotive signified and a connotative signified. Meaning includes both denotation and connotation.