semiotics
Meaning-making field
Semiotics is the study of signs and symbols—how they convey meaning.
A stop sign, a wedding ring, a thumbs-up: semiotics examines what makes these things signify what they do.
The field spans language, images, gestures, and cultural codes.
Her dissertation applied semiotics to advertising imagery.
The adjective is semiotic.
Meaning-bearing form
- signifiedExpressed meaning symbolically
- referentWhat a term designates
- iconPictorial screen symbol
- indexAlphabetical guide to contents
symbol · code · denotation · connotation · paradigm · langue · parole · signification
Pictorial screen symbol
- indexAlphabetical guide to contents
- symbolRepresentational mark or sign
- emblemRepresentational sign or device
- logoCompany identifying symbol
pictogram · ideogram · glyph · insignia · motif · allegory · iconography · signage
Study of linguistic meaning
- pragmaticsLanguage-in-context study
- sensePerception or judgment
- referenceDirecting attention elsewhere
- denotationWord's explicit dictionary meaning
connotation · implication · inference · ambiguity · polysemy · context · interpretation · hermeneutics
Analysis through underlying systems
- poststructuralismPhilosophy questioning stable meaning
- semiologyTheory of sign systems
- deconstructionAnalysis exposing self-contradiction
- EcoItalian literary surname
Body of traditional tales
- ideologyStructured belief framework
- ritualCeremonial set of actions
- symbolismRepresenting concepts through images
- representationDepiction or likeness
advertising · narrative · hegemony · connotation · branding · propaganda
signifier
Meaning-bearing form
index · symbol · code · denotation · connotation · paradigm · langue · parole · signification · polysemy
icon
Pictorial screen symbol
- indexAlphabetical guide to contents
- symbolRepresentational mark or sign
- emblemRepresentational sign or device
logo · pictogram · ideogram · glyph · insignia · motif · allegory · iconography · signage · emoji
semantics
Study of linguistic meaning
- pragmaticsLanguage-in-context study
- sensePerception or judgment
- referenceDirecting attention elsewhere
denotation · connotation · implication · inference · ambiguity · polysemy · context · interpretation · hermeneutics · exegesis
structuralism
Analysis through underlying systems
- poststructuralismPhilosophy questioning stable meaning
- semiologyTheory of sign systems
- deconstructionAnalysis exposing self-contradiction
mythology
Body of traditional tales
- ideologyStructured belief framework
- ritualCeremonial set of actions
- symbolismRepresenting concepts through images
representation · advertising · narrative · hegemony · connotation · branding · propaganda
message
Transmitted communication
code · encoding · decoding · noise · feedback · medium · verbal · nonverbal · gesture · visual
- academic fieldsmathematics, biology, chemistry, physics, history
- disciplinesbiology, chemistry, physics, mathematics, psychology
- humanitiesphilosophy, history, literature, philosophy class, novels
- meaningmeaning, sense, significance, denotation, definition
- interpretationinterpretive dance, translation, interpreting, translating, construing
- visual culturevisual communication, visual literacy, visual language, visual perception, visual narrative
semioticsphysics
Science of matter and energy
materialism · physicalism · mechanism · empiricism · reductionism