SEMIOTICS
Presented by
Mark Spivey
Xwisee, Inc.
http://www.xwisee.com | mark.spivey@xwisee.com

To be covered:
 Overview of semiotics
 Analysis of its three branches:
 Semantics
 Syntactics
 Pragmatics
 Applications of semiotics
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OVERVIEW
What is it,
where did it come from,
and who was responsible for it?
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Overview of Semiotics
 What is “semiotics”?
 Derived from Greek word “semiotikos”
meaning “interpreter of signs”
 The study of how meaning is
constructed and understood through
the communication of signs and
symbols
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Overview of Semiotics
 Historical figures include:
 Henry Stubbes
 John Locke
 Charles Peirce
 Ferdinand de Saussure
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Overview of Semiotics
 Henry Stubbes
 In 1670, he was the first to use the
word in English
 Used to specify a specific branch of
medical science responsible for the
interpretation of signs.
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Overview of semiotics
 John Locke
 In 1690, his publication, An Essay
Concerning Human Understanding,
identified semiotics as being one of
the three total divisions of science.
 Explained it as “the doctrine of signs”
founded on observation, not principle
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Overview of Semiotics
 Charles Peirce
 Abstracted from general semiotics the
notion of it’s practical use by intelligent
agents capable of learning by
experience
 Charles Morris extended Peirce’s
work beyond human communication
to animal learning
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Overview of Semiotics
 Ferdinand de Saussure
 Focused on the “social” aspects of
semiotics by connecting it to the social
sciences
 Considered it complimentary to the
scientific study of natural language
known as “linguistics”
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THREE
MAJOR
BRANCHES
What is being represented?
What represents it, and how?
What does it mean to us?
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Three Major Branches
 Intl. Encyclopedia of Unified Science
 Produced by the ‘Vienna Circle’
• A gathering of philosophers in 1922 at Vienna
University
 Broke semiotics into three major branches:
• Semantics
• Syntactics
• Pragmatics
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Three Major Branches
 Semantics
 The study of the relationship between signs
and the things they represent
 The symbolic representation of concepts
“tree”
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Three Major Branches
 Semantics
“John loves a bagel.”
 The word “bagel” may have a literal
interpretation, denotation, representing the
physical object
 Or have a figurative interpretation,
connotation, representing how it satisfies
John’s hunger.
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Three Major Branches
 Syntactics
 The study of formal principles and rules for
constructing sentences in natural languages
 Combination of signs to form meaning
“subject” + “predicate” + “object”
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Three Major Branches
 Syntactics
“John loves a bagel.”
Subject + predicate + object
 Each language has its own syntax governing
the formation of meaningful sentences
 Rearranging the words will change the
meaning
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Three Major Branches
 Pragmatics
 The study of the relationship between signs
and symbols and their impacts on those who
use them
“tree”
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Three Major Branches
 Pragmatics
"You have a green light”
 How the context of the content influences the
understood meaning of the content
• It could mean you are holding a green light bulb.
• Or that you have a green light to drive your car.
• Or it could be indicating that you can go ahead
with the project.
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PRACTICAL
APPLICATIONS
Why should we care about it?
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Practical Applications
 Two major areas:
 Methodology for analysis of “text”
independent of “modality”
• Knowledge Representation
• Data Modeling / Architecture
 Enhanced ergonomic design
• Experience Design
• Cultural / Contextual Relevance
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Practical Applications
 Analysis Methodology
 A “text” is considered any message
existing independent of both a sender
and receiver
 A “modality” is considered a specific
way encoding of information for
presentation to humans
 Semiotics allows the analysis of “text”
regardless of “modality”
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Practical Applications
 Enhanced Ergonomic Design
 Improving the experience between
humans and their environment
 Large Scale:
• Architecture
• Urban Planning
 Small Scale:
• Product Design / User Experience
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We covered:
 Overview of semiotics
 Analysis of its three branches:
 Semantics
 Syntactics
 Pragmatics
 Applications of semiotics
http://www.xwisee.com | mark.spivey@xwisee.com