This document discusses meaning as it relates to signs in linguistics. It covers several key topics: 1) Words establish semantic relationships like denotation and connotation that give meaning to the world. 2) A sign is the relationship between a signifier (word) and signified (object/idea), which is mediated by codes and symbols. There is an arbitrary nature to this relationship. 3) Cultural communities encode their experience in language differently, leading to differences in meanings across languages and cultures.