This slideshare presentation is about Roland Barthes and his theory on semiotics

1. ROLAND BARTHES
Semiotics

2. ROLAND'S BACKGROUND
 He was born on the 12th of November 1915 in Cherbourg, France and died on
the 26th of March 1980in Paris, aged 64.
 He studied at the university of Paris and completed a degree in classical letters
in 1939 then in 1943 he took a degree in philology and grammar.
 He created a theory which involved the 5 codes which were;
1. The hermeneutic (enigma) code, this code is the mystery within a text.
Writers often give clues or hints towards the correct answer before revealing
it, however unanswered enigmas may aggravate an audience as they want to
know the answer to the mystery.
2. The Proairetic (action) code, these elements add suspense to the text as
this is consecutive action included in the text.
3. The Semantic code, this code adds deeper meaning to the text. Words have
a literal meaning and different connotations which link to different ideas.
4. The symbolic code, this is where an author includes symbolism within a
piece of text. This adds tension to the text and increases the meaning of the
article.
5. The referential code, this is a feature in the text which can link to other areas
and can refers to an outside body such as cultural, scientific or historical
information.

3. Definition of semiotics: The study of meaning-making, sign
processes and meaningful communication. (the study of
signs)
Semiotics includes 2 main things, a signifier and a signified,
which are added together to get a sign.
 The signifier could be a word, image, sound or colour. (For
example the colour red.)
 The signified could be the meaning of the sign, things
associated with the sign or a concept around the sign.
(For example, the colour red can be associated with love,
blood or anger)
Signifier + signified = Sign
red + = Love
SEMIOTICS

4. ROLAND BARTHE AND SEMIOTICS
Barthe is one of the leading theorists of semiology however he is
sometimes considered as a poststructuralist(a person who studies
Poststructuralism, a movement in philosophy). He is more
commonly known as a structuralist (as he followed the method of
Ferdinand de Saussure).
Even though people don’t always realise it, a Semiotic theory can be
useful in everyday life. A semiotic theory is an explanatory theory
which Barth split up and broke down to focus on their interpretation.
He believed that every sign is either a Denotative sign or a
Connotative sign.
The denotative sign system is the literal meaning of a sign. It is the
most basic system out of denotative and connotative. For example
the word “rose” is a type of flower.
The connotative sign system is like a secondary meaning which
goes deeper than a denotation. This adds more detail to the sign,
for example the word rose could also signify passion.