9780415351119

Using jargon-free language and lively, up-to-date examples, Semiotics: The Basics demystifies this highly interdisciplinary subject. Along the way, the reader will find out:* What is a sign?* Which codes do we take for granted?* What is a text?* How can semiotics be used in textual analysis?* Who were Saussure, Peirce, Barthes and Jakobson - and why are they important?Features include a glossary of key terms and realistic suggestions for further reading. There is also a highly-developed and long-established online version of the book at: www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/S4B.

Daniel Chandler is a Lecturer in the department of Theatre, Film and Television Studies at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth

List of figures

xi

List of tables

xiii

Preface

xv

Acknowledgements

xix

Introduction

1

(16)

Definitions

2

(3)

Traditions

5

(2)

Methodologies

7

(2)

Relation to linguistics

9

(3)

Langue and parole

12

(2)

Why study semiotics?

14

(3)

1 Models of the sign

17

(38)

The Saussurean model

18

(3)

Two sides of a page

21

(1)

The relational system

22

(3)

Arbitrariness

25

(7)

The Peircean model

32

(4)

Relativity

36

(2)

Symbolic mode

38

(1)

Iconic mode

39

(2)

Indexical mode

41

(2)

Modes not types

43

(1)

Changing relations

44

(1)

Digital and analogue

45

(2)

Types and takens

47

(2)

Rematerializing the sign

49

(4)

Hjelmslev's framework

53

(2)

2 Signs and things

55

(24)

Naming things

55

(3)

Referentiality

58

(2)

Modality

60

(4)

The word is not the thing

64

(10)

Empty signifiers

74

(5)

3 Analysing structures

79

(44)

Horizontal and vertical axes

79

(4)

The syntagmatic dimension

83

(1)

Conceptual relations

84

(2)

Spatial relations

86

(3)

Sequential relations

89

(3)

Structural reduction

92

(6)

The paradigmatic dimension

98

(1)

The commutation test

99

(2)

Oppositions

101

(1)

The language of opposition

102

(2)

Us and them

104

(2)

Alignment

106

(4)

Markedness

110

(5)

Valorizing Term B

115

(3)

The semiotic square

118

(5)

4 Challenging the literal

123

(24)

Rhetorical tropes

123

(4)

Metaphor

127

(3)

Metonymy

130

(2)

Synecdoche

132

(2)

Irony

134

(3)

Master tropes

137

(3)

Denotation and connotation

140

(4)

Myth

144

(3)

5 Codes

147

(28)

Types of codes

148

(2)

Perceptual codes

150

(4)

Social codes

154

(3)

Textual codes

157

(4)

Codes of realism

161

(5)

Invisible editing

166

(4)

Broadcast and narrowcast codes

170

(1)

Interaction of textual codes

171

(1)

Codification

172

(3)

6 Textual interactions

175

(32)

Models of communication

175

(4)

The positioning of the subject

179

(4)

Adopting a perspective

183

(5)

Modes of address

188

(4)

Reading positions

192

(2)

Intertextuality

194

(2)

Problematizing authorship

196

(1)

Reading as rewriting

197

(2)

No text is an island

199

(2)

Intratextuality

201

(2)

Bricolage

203

(1)

Types and degrees of intertextuality

203

(4)

7 Limitations and strengths

207

(14)

Imperialism

208

(1)

Form and function

209

(2)

Inescapable frames

211

(2)

Poststructuralist semiotics

213

(1)

Strengths of semiotic analysis

214

(1)

Mediation

215

(2)

The construction of meanings and subjects

217

(1)

Semiotic modes

218

(3)

Going further

221

(2)

Glossary

223

(24)

References

247

(16)

Index

263

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Semiotics

0415351111

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