Ok. So semiotics, going into this I had no idea what this was so this entire presentation was new to me but roughly this is what I was able to decipher.
Semiotics is the study of signs and symbols within society so essentially anything that is capable of conveying any sort of meaning could be viewed as a sign, for example the clothing somebody wears as we all make assumptions about a person based on how they're dressed. Paired with this is the idea of encoding and decoding these signs as often they're grouped together. Then it went on about how we use semiotics as a guide essentially to study how signs communicate meaning as well as how we interpret that meaning. Then it went on about the origins of modern semiotics which could be traced back to 'Saussure' and 'Pierce' from the mid 1800's. Saussure argued that our entire perception of reality is just formed from the sings around us and that 'without them there is nothing'. Bit heavy for me but then again I'm not all that engaged by this topic as a whole so I'll just take his word for it. Actually in relation to his ideas it could be argued that language itself is ideological as they carry unique messages and views based upon their place of origin. His diagram of speech was interesting, essentially arguing that communication using language is sort of this exchange of minds, its dependant on the two people having this mutual understanding of concepts. So it would be far less effective if the viewpoints of those involved were too dissimilar. |