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SAUSSURE PEIRCE BARTHES	INTRO. What the concept of SEMIOTICS represents, and what surrounds it is not unknown to you, even if it sounds unfamiliar. We are going to define SEMIOTICS in three different ways: The dictionary will usually give you this definition: Semiotics (Semiology): from the Greek semion= sign; and logos= the treatment of // Theory, general "science" of signs in linguistics. (LAROUSSE, 1990) By understanding how semiotics works and can be applied we suggest this other definition: Semiotics: The ability of the individual to create meaning out of signs. By understanding that the individual is a social animal and that usually we find him/her interacting with others of the same kind, we can also make this definition: Semiotics: Agreement between a group of individuals to give the same (or similar) meaning to signs. In the three definitions we see the key word SIGN. For this study you need to understand the total concept of what a sign is: A sign is EVERYTHING. All that you can perceive with your five senses, or six if you are one of those special persons, is a sign. >>Everything that your mind can process is a SIGN. At this point we know that a sign is everything from which meaning can be generated. Well, Saussure said that a sign is composed of two elements, this is known as his dyadic (two sides) concept. These are: a SIGNIFIER or the form which the sign takes, and a SIGNIFIED or the concept the sign represents. Is important to truly understand the definition of these two elements that it can get confusing. So here's an example: A sign could be the written word dog; the signifier of this word are the letters d-o-g. The signified is the concept: dog, the actual animal, but as we perceive it.
INTRO PEIRCE BARTHES	SAUSSURE. Saussure referred to the signifier in terms of a sound-image concept or the psychological imprint of the sound dog in this case. The signified is the mental concept of the dog. In other words: The signifier dog makes us think about an animal. The letters that conform the word dog have a meaning in English, but if a monolingual English speaker sees the word perro, this may not mean much to him, even if that word in Spanish is the same thing as dog. The signified of dog also depends of the experience of the person. Yes, you could understand the meaning of the word dog, but what kind of a dog? a bulldog? a Chihuahua? or is it a Poodle? Each language involves different distinctions between one signifier and another (e.g. tree and free) and between one signified and another (e.g., tree and bush).
INTRO SAUSSURE BARTHES	PEIRCE. Peirce created his theory independent from Sassure and introduced a third element. His triadic theory creates an interesting process that I'll explain later. First let us understand the elements that conform the sign according to Peirce. The representamen or the form which the sign takes. The interpretant is not an interpreter (or person) but rather the sense made of the sign. The object is to which the sign refers to. The representamen can be seen as the Saussurian signifier. The object as the signified. The third element (the interpretant) creates a process that has been named UNLIMITED SEMIOSIS. It refers to the way in which the sign could lead to a series of successive interpretants. In the unlimited semiosis, the interpretant turns into a new sign in the mind of the interpreter (you). For example: the smell of pizza, this is a sign that creates an interpretant like good times, or dinner. This turns into another sign, which creates another interpretant such as girlfriend (or boyfriend). This is turned into a sign that creates two interpretants like money and love. Each of these interpertants turn into signs which could unhitch a continuously and probably an infinite number of successions. Capice? But each next sign (interpretant) also depends on the value of the representamen and object.
INTRO SAUSSURE PEIRCE	BARTHES. Barthes analyzed in his essays all the elements of semiotics; one of his most important works is the study of connotation and denotation, which for a lot of semioticians are types of Signifieds. Denotation is described as "literal," obvious or commonsense meaning of a sign. "Connotation refers to its socio-cultural and personal associations (ideological, emotional, etc)" (Chandler, Daniel). Roland Barthes thinks that these two concepts are different orders of signification or levels of meaning. For him, Denotation would be the first level (or order). It is a plain sign consisting of a signifier and a signified. Connotation is the second level. Here we use the denotative sign (or first level) and we add something personal to it. In other words, it is how an individual or society expresses about a sign. By combining the first order (denotation) and the second one (connotation), an IDEOLOGY is created, or what we call MYTH. "Myths are arbitrary with respect to their referents, and culture-specifics. (O'Sullivan et al, 1994, 287). Here the sign reflects cultural-variable concepts. Susan Hayward offers a useful example of the three levels of signification in relation to a photograph of Marilyn Monroe: At the denotative level this is a photograph of the movie star Marilyn Monroe. At a connotative level we associate this photograph with Marilyn Monroe's star qualities of glamour, sexuality, beauty - if this is an early photograph - but also with her depression, drug-taking and untimely death if it is one of her last photographs. At a mythic level we understand this sign as activating the myth of Hollywood: the dream factory that produces glamour in the form of the stars it constructs, but also the dream machine that can crush them - all with a view to profit and expediency (Hayward 1996, 310).

Semiotics: Saussure Barthes Peirce Usefulness Summary Examples Bibliography