Semiotics

Semiotics is the study of signs and sign systems

What is a sign?

Anything that can represent a thing or idea

is a sign

Literal sign that tells the viewer

to “stop”

The word

DOG =

Language is a form of semiotics

ICONICON

INDEXINDEX

SYMBOLSYMBOL

Icon

An Icon is a sign that resembles its object

This is an icon that represents George Washington

The viewer knows this because it resembles Washington’s appearance

IN some cases, we have thousands of icons to represent one individual

IndexAn index is a symbol that is physically

connected to its object

This clock has indexical meaning – when we see it, we understand that it is a symbol for time

We also know that a clock tells the time

In this way, the symbol is directly connected to the object

• “Where there’s smoke, there’s fire” – this expression is an example of indexical thought

• The smoke coming from a burning building is an index for the object that it’s linked to: fire.

A photograph of a person, place, or thing is always an index.

It not only represents its object, but is actually connected to it in time and space.

Symbol

A symbol is an arbitrary representation

of an object

This symbol has been selected to represent a Volkswagen

It only has meaning because we understand the alphanumeric system (more symbols) and it has been attached to VW vehicles

Symbol? Index? Icon?

Why is all of this important?

When trying to understand images from When trying to understand images from other cultures or periods of time, we have other cultures or periods of time, we have to decode the systems of signs in order to to decode the systems of signs in order to make meaning out of what we see.make meaning out of what we see.

Nineteen Maya

Numerals & 20 Day Signs

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19

Nineteen Latin Numerals and Calendar

Let’s take a look at this painting and see if we can use our knowledge of language and semiotics to make meaning out

of the images and text.

Chicano Park – Street MuralsSan Diego, CA

Detail from Aztec Codex

“To understand the world of todayHold it up to the world of long ago”

Sculpture found in the funeral chamber of an Aztec Emperor

Feathered Serpent from the Quetzalcoatl temple in Teotihuacan, Mexico

Why do you think all of these ancient symbols were

incorporated into a contemporary image?

Why include a yin yang and swastika when pre-contact Mexican symbols looked like the one’s to the right?

Long live the strike!

What’s the mural about?

What do the signs and symbols tell the viewer?

What can we tell about present-day Chicano culture by looking at this mural?

Chicano culture in the United States is informed by both present-day Mexican culture and present-day American

culture….