This document provides an overview of semiotic analysis and key concepts in semiotics. It discusses how semiotics is the study of meaning-making and communication through signs such as words, images, and symbols. It outlines some of the founders of semiotics, such as Saussure and Peirce, and defines important terms like the signifier, signified, and interpretant. The document also distinguishes between denotation and connotation, and describes different types of signs like icons, symbols and indexes. Finally, it gives examples of how semiotic analysis can be applied to understanding television media.

1. SEMIOTIC ANALYSIS
Dr. J. Janardhan

2. SEMIOTICS
• Semiology is the term used for the science of sign
• Semiotics is the study of signs
• It’s the study of meaning-making and meaningful
communication
• Semiotics is related to linguistics, the study of language
• But, it limits itself to the signs and symbols part of
communication

3. SEMIOTICS
• Anything that creates meaning or capable of
representing something else is a sign
Ex.: Words and numbers, photographs, icons, and
road are the signs
• Semiology gives us a useful set of tools
• For identifying and creating the patterns in the
communication

4. SEMIOTICS
• Ferdinand de Saussure (1857–1913) and Charles
Sanders Peirce (1839–1914) are the founders of
semiotics
• Saussure was a Swiss linguist, who was also the father of
modern linguistics
• Sanders Peirce was an American philosopher and the
founder of pragmatism

5. PARTS OF SIGN
• Acc.Saussure the sign is the basic unit of meaning
• It was made up of two parts -Signifier and Signified
• Signifier -The form of a sign.
• The form might be a sound, a word, a photograph, a facial
expression
• Signified: The concept or object that’s represented
It might be the command to stop, or a warning of
radioactivity

6. SIGNIFIER AND SIGNIFIED

7. SIGNIFIER AND SIGNIFIED
• Peirce added a third part to signs, the interpreter
• He saw signs consisting of:
▪ The representamen (signifier): the sign’s form.
▪ An Interpretant: what the audience makes of the sign.
▪ An Object (signified): what the sign refers to.

8. SIGNIFIER AND SIGNIFIED

9. SIGNIFIER AND SIGNIFIED

10. CONNOTATION AND DENOTATION
• These are two principal methods of describing the sign
• Connotation comes from Latin Connotare, “to mark
along with”
• Refers to the cultural meanings that become attached to
words
• A word’s connotations involve the symbolic, historic and
emotional matters
• Connotation is mental concept generated from the sign

11. CONNOTATION AND DENOTATION
• Denotation- Refers to the literal or explicit meaning of the
words
Barbie Doll denotes a toy doll, had measurements
But, Connotation in contrast
• Some Scholars have suggested that arrival of Barbie Doll
signified the end of motherhood
• Important of consumer culture

12. CONNOTATION AND DENOTATION

13. ICON, SYMBOLS AND INDEX
• Acc.Peirce, signifier, can be classified into three types
An Icon
An Symbols
Index
• An Icon has a physical resemblance to the signified
Ex: A photograph
• An Index shows evidence of what’s being represented
Ex: image of smoke to indicate fire.
• A Symbol- no resemblance b/w the signifier and the signified
Ex: Numbers (9) and alphabets (X)

14. ICON, SYMBOLS AND INDEX

15. PARADIGM/ SYNTAGM
• Paradigm: it is redundancy/ predictable
• Syntagm: entropy/ unpredictable
• Syntagms are combinations of signs
• Put together in an organized way to produce some form of
meaningful whole.
• Paradigm is a group of signifier or signified (signs) that
are in some way associated with one another

16. PARADIGM/ SYNTAGM

17. SEMIOTICS OF TV MEDIUM
• Semiotic analysis can be used to explicate TV programs
• Specific focus on the TV narrative
• Various forms of media carry various genres of the
popular arts MEDIA POPULAR ART FORMS
RADIO Soap Operas
TV Advt/Commercials
Films Western
Newspapers/Magzines Talk Shows/News

18. SEMIOTICS OF TV MEDIUM
• Semiotic analysis can be used to explicate TV programs
• Specific focus on the TV narrative
• Various forms of media carry various genres of the
popular arts
MEDIA POPULAR ART FORMS
RADIO Soap Operas
TV Advt/Commercials
Films Western
Newspapers/Magzines Talk Shows/News

19. SEMIOTICS OF TV MEDIUM
• Each medium, has certain limitations
• TV is not ideal medium for presenting battle scenes
• It’s a “Close-up” medium
Signifier (Shot) Definition Signified (Meaning)
Close-up Face Only Intimacy
Medium Shot Most of body Personal
Relationship
Long Shot Setting and
Characters
Context, Scopes,
Public Distance
Full Shot Full body of person Social Relations

20. SEMIOTICS OF TV MEDIUM
•
Signifier Definition Signified
Pan down Camera looks down Power, authority
Pan Up Camera looks up Smallness,
Weakness
Dolly in Image appears on
blank screen
Observation, focus
Fade in Image appears on
blank screen
Beginning
Fade out Image screen goes
blank
Ending
Cut Switch from one
image to another
Simultaneity,
excitement
Wipe Image wiped off
screen
Imposed conclusion

21. THANK YOU