Semiotic Approaches to Material Culture

Semiotics is the science of signs.
1. Signs are things that stand for other things
2. Ferdinand de Saussure & Charles Sanders Pierce are the founding fathers.
Saussure on Signs
1. objects are signs, or technically signifiers, & the task of the semiotician is to figure out their various signifieds.
2. "in language there are only oppositions"
3. Consider objects in terms of their size, shape, texture, color, & grain.
Problems with Interpreting Signs
1. The signifieds are all based on convention, & in many cases a number of different signifieds can be inferred from one signifier.
2. Conventions changing & of lying with signs.
Peirce on Signs
1. a sign is something which stands to somebody for something in some respect or capacity
2. Iconic signs can signify by resemblance, indexical signs by cause and effect, and symbolic signs, whose meaning must be learned.
Roland Barthes on the Semiotics of Objects
1. Offers some insights onto the role of semiotics in analyzing material culture.
2. "There is virtually never an object or nothing."
On the Veracity of Signs
1. They can be used to lie
2. We have no way of knowing if it's a lie
Denotation & Connotation
1. Denotation involves detailed descriptions & measurements.
2. Connotation involves the cultural meanings & myths connected to them.
3. Barbie, What she looks like vs. What she represents.

Resource summary

	Created by Patricia Sanmiguel over 9 years ago