LITERARY RESEARCH METHODS

“SEMIOTICS”

BY

TYANI ALRIZKI

RANI PUSPITA SARI

ABDILLAH MUHAMMAD

INTRODUCTION TO SEMIOTICS

For a brief history, the study of signs and how they work on society
communication has been happened from a long time ago, however it can be said
that the modern semiotic analysis was started by Charles Sanders Pierce (1839 –
1914) and Ferdinand de Saussure (1858 – 1913). The first published book of
Saussure called A Course in General (1915) had provide the idea of semiotic
analysis. In that book he wrote, “The linguistic sign unites not a thing and a name,
but a concept and a sound-image. . . . I call the combination of a concept and a
sound-image a sign, but in current usage the term generally designates only a
sound-image” (pp. 66–67). His idea of sound-image and concept is the trigger to
the Signifier and Sigmified concept of semiotics, which is the important start of
semiotic study and development all over the globe.

The world is made up of signs, our surroundings are filled with signs.
Signs that can have particular meaning based on the context, signs that can be
perceived or interpreted differently by each person or community because of
cultural or generational differences etc. Semiotics is the study or discipline of
those signs, it investigate, explore, and analyze every process that involves signs
and symbols. How meanings are constructed in our world is the fundamental
question of semiotics approach.
 Semiotic analysis seeks to find the meaning of a sign including the things
hidden behind a sign (text, advertisements, news, and other signs). Because the
sign system is very contextual and depends on the user of the sign. The thought of
sign users is the result of the influence of various social constructs where the sign
user is located (Krisyantono, 2006: 262).

SIGN IN SEMIOTICS

The question that may arise right now is about signs, what is it and how to
identify it. In semiotics, signs doesn’t have an absolute meaning, signs can be a lot
of things, it can exist in visual forms, sounds, writings, body languages and more.
According to Pierce, a sign is something that can represent something else within
certain limits.

However signs have two key components, the signifier and signified.
Signifier is the physical form of the sign like letters or sounds conveying meaning
while signified is personal interpretation of signifier. And based on Pierce's theory
there are three types of signifier.

 Icons: A physical resemblance to the object – map, sound or picture

 Symbol: No physical resemblance – toilet door, brand or warning sign
 Index: Exists because of the existence of signifier – eg smoke = fire

And then three types of signified

 Denotation: Literal meaning of sign – dictionary or non-ambiguous

 Connotation: Meaning to the individual – what the sign means to ‘me’
 Myth: An extended metaphor – social and cultural stories and values