Semiotics

Edgar Kenji Tanaka

Agenda
• What is semiotics?
• What is a sign?
• Types of signs
• Why study semiotics?
• Conclusions
What is semiotics?
• Also called semiology
• Comes from greek semeîon which means sign
• Science which studies the role of signs as part
of social life (Saussure)
• Formal doctrine of signs (Peirce)
• Investigates the nature of signs and the laws
governing them
Studies in semiotics
• Semiotics studies are in art, literature,
anthropology, mass media,
psychoanalysis, biology, education and
computers 
• Semiotics are studied by semioticians
(semioticistas in Portuguese)
What is a sign?
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEgxTKUP
(Semiotics: the study of signs)
What is a sign?
• Saussure and Peirce were concerned
with the definition of sign
• Words, images, sounds, gestures, objects
Ferdinand de Saussure
• November 26, 1857 – February 22, 1913
• Swiss linguist
• Father of the 20-century linguistics
Saussure´s sign definition
the concept
it represents

signification

the form
which the sign
takes
Saussure´s sign definition
• “the sign is the whole that results from the
association of the signifier with the signified”
(Saussure)
• Signified and Signifier are both psychological
(form rather than substance)
• Saussure´s model of the sign refers only to a
concept and not to a thing
Saussure
• Example
Concept of
a tree

Word ‘tree’,
picture of a
tree,
pronunciation
of ‘tree’
Saussure
• Example
− Signifier – word ‘open’
− Signified – that the shop is open for business
Saussure
• Same signifier can stand for different signifieds
depending on the context
• Saussure was focusing on the linguistic sign (such as a
word)
• The link between signified and signifier is arbitrary
(nothing ‘treeish’ about word ‘tree’)
• No specific signifier is ‘naturally’ more suited to a
signified than another
• Saussure was more concerned about linguistic signs
and speech
Charles Sanders Peirce
• September 10, 1839 – April 19, 1914
• American logician, philosopher,
mathematician and scientist
• Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts
• Contributions to philosophy,
mathematics, logic and semiotics
Peirce´s sign definition
• “Something which stands to somebody
for something in respect or capacity”
(Peirce)
Peirce´s sign definition
• Representamen – form
which the sign takes (not
necessarily material)
• Object – to which the sign
refers
• Interpretant – idea,
interpretation in mind
3 classes of signs
• Symbol – signifier does not resemble the
signified (fundamentally arbitrary or purely
conventional)
• Icon – signifier is perceived as resembling or
imitating the signified
• Index – signifier is directly connected in some
way (physically or causally) to the signified
Highlights
• There are no pure icons – there is always
na element of cultural convention
involved
• Iconic and Indexical signs are more likely
to be read as ‘natural’ than symbolic
signs. (HCI)  Abstract UI (youtube)
Why should we study semiotics?
• “...writings of semioticians have a reputation for being
dense with jargon”
• Semiotics is important because it can help us not to take
‘reality’ for granted as something having a purely
objective existence which is independent of human
interpretation
• Information or meaning is NOT contained in the world
• We live in a world of signs and we have no way of
understanding anything except through signs
• Deconstructing and contesting the realities of signs can
reveal whose realities are privileged and whose are
supressed
Conclusions
• Peirce´s sign model seems to be more
complete than Saussure´s
• Saussure was more concerned with linguistics
• Peirce´s model seems to be more adequate in
the HCI context
• Semiotics can help understand signs in
computers
• Semiotics can help in anything involving
communication such as computer interfaces
Next steps?
• Search for material involving HCI and
semiotics
• ...
References
• Chandler, Daniel, Semiotics for
Beginners (chapters 1 and 2)