Lecture 03: Semiotics

Lecture 03: Semiotics IS 246Multimedia Information Prof. Marc Davis UC Berkeley SIMS Monday and Wednesday 2:00 pm – 3:30 pm Fall 2004 http://www.sims.berkeley.edu/academics/courses/is246/f04/

Today’s Agenda • Review of Last Time • Towards a New Understanding of Communication • Iser on The Reading Process • Barthes on “Author” and “Text” • Foundations of Semiotics • Discussion Questions • Action Items for Next Time

What and How Do We Communicate? • What “gifts” do we give each other? • What do we do with these gifts? • How does this gift exchange bring us together (or not)?

Beyond the Conduit Metaphor • Reddy • Identification of the Conduit Metaphor • Suggestion of alternate Toolmakers’ Paradigm • Iser • The reading process as a primary example of the Toolmakers’ Paradigm • Phenomenology of the reading process • Barthes • New conceptions of “author” and “text”

The Conduit Metaphor • Language functions like a conduit, transferring thoughts bodily from one person to another • In writing and speaking, people insert their thoughts or feelings in the words • Words accomplish the transfer by containing the thoughts or feelings and conveying them to others • In listening or reading, people extract the thoughts and feelings once again from the words

Toolmakers’ Paradigm

Conduit Metaphor Repertoire Members (i.e., perceptions, thoughts, or feelings) can migrate from one mind to another Communication is a largely effort free act of unpacking the meaning in words (i.e., the sender’s RMs in the Signals) Communication does not involve the RMs of the receiver of the message Toolmakers Paradigm Only Signals can pass between human beings, not RMs Communication requires active engagement of both parties and often breaks down and needs repair The meanings of signals are not contained within them, but made out of the constructive interaction between the signals and the RMs of the receiver Comparing Models

Iser on the Literary Work • Literary work has two poles • Artistic • Text created by the author • Reddy’s signals – Text (1) • Metaphor of “stars” • Esthetic • Realization accomplished by the reader • Reddy’s Repertoire Members – Text (2) • Metaphor of “constellations” • Literary work comes to life in the interaction between text and reader • Virtual dimension • Gaps

Iser on the Reading Process • Phenomenology of reading process similar to phenomenology of perception • Anticipation • Retrospection • Gestalt • Illusion-building/Illusion-breaking • Interaction with repertoire (familiar) • Alien associations (unfamiliar) • Text(1) and Text(2)

Roland Barthes • Death of the Author • Who is the “I” that writes? • The reader constructs the author by means of the text • From Work to Text • Method: “The text is experienced only in an activity of production.” • Plurality: “The text is plural.” • Filiation: The author returns to his/her text as a guest • Text is a social space which coincides only with a practice of writing

Foundations of Semiotics • Ferdinand de Saussure Course in General Linguistics (1906-1911) • One of the founders of modern linguistics • Established the structural study of language, emphasizing the arbitrary relationship of the signifier to signified and the diacritical nature of signs • Distinguished synchronic linguistics (studying language at a given moment) from diachronic linguistics (studying the changing state of a language over time) • Creation of “semiology” the study of sign systems • Hugely influential on modern literary and media theory

Language and Linguistics • The object of study of linguistics is language (langue) not human speech (langage) • Linguistic study can be divided up into • Diachronic linguistics • How a system of values relates to and changes over time • Synchronic linguistics • How a system of values works per se (at a point in time) • Linguistics is not just a subset of the general study of signs (semiology) but is its template

Linguistic Sign Concept Sound-Image • Sign, Signified, Signifier • The linguistic sign is the unity of the signifier (a sound-image) and the signified (a concept)

Linguistic Sign • “The linguistic sign unites, not a thing and a name, but a concept and a sound-image. The latter is not the material sound, a purely physical thing, but the psychological imprint of the sound, the impression that it makes on our senses. The sound-image is sensory, and if I happen to call it "material," it is only in that sense, and by way of opposing it to the other term of the association, the concept, which is generally more abstract.” (p. 66)

Linguistic Signs and Language • The sign is arbitrary • A multiplicity of signs is necessary to form any language • Language is an over-complex system • Language exhibits a collective inertia toward innovation

From Signification to Values • “[...] to consider a term as simply the union of a certain sound with a certain concept is grossly misleading. To define it in this way would isolate the term from its system; it would mean assuming that one can start from the terms and construct the system by adding them together when, on the contrary, it is from the interdependent whole that one must start and through analysis obtain its elements.” (p. 113). • “Language is a system of interdependent terms in which the value of each term results solely from the simultaneous presence of the others [...].” (p. 114)

Linguistic Values • Values are composed of • A dissimilar thing that can be exchanged for the thing of which the value is to be determined • Similar things that can be compared with the thing of which the value is to be determined Signified Signified Signified Signifier Signifier Signifier

Syntagmatic and Associative Relations • “In discourse, on the one hand, words acquire relations based on the linear nature of language because they are chained together. [...] Combinations supported by linearity are syntagms. The syntagm is always composed of two or more consecutive units [...]. In the syntagm a term acquires its value only because it stands in opposition to everything that precedes or follows it, or to both. Outside discourse, on the other hand, words acquire relations of a different kind. Those that have something in common are associated in memory, resulting groups are marked by diverse relations. [...] We see that the co-ordinations formed outside discourse differ strikingly from those formed inside discourse. Those formed outside discourse are not supported by linearity. Their seat is in the brain; they are a part of the inner storehouse that makes up the language of each speaker. They are associative relations.” (p. 123).

Syntagmatic and Associative Relations Associative (Paradigmatic) Axis C’’’ C’’ C’ Syntagmatic Axis A B C D E

Differences • “Everything that has been said up to this point boils down to this: in language there are only differences. Even more important: a difference generally implies positive terms between which the difference is set up; but in language there are only differences without positive terms.” (p. 120). • “In reality the idea evokes not a form but a whole latent system that makes possible the oppositions necessary for the formation of the sign. By itself the sign would have no signification.” (p. 130).

Discussion Questions (Saussure) • Alison Billings on Saussure • How can the methods used to create meaning (comparison and associative relationships) for arbitrary language signs transfer to image based communications? • Are images arbitrary signifiers or do the have specific meanings?

Discussion Questions (Saussure) • Gökçe Kınayoğlu on Saussure • While formulating Semiotics, Saussure intentionally steers away from Semantics (Study of meaning), also clearly distinguishes the value-laden symbol from the neutral sign. Are all signs value-free? (ex. “God”)

Discussion Questions (Saussure) • Gökçe Kınayoğlu on Saussure • If we accept that “thought is fluid and chaotic before language” (p112), can we speak of the existence of the “signified”? Linguistically speaking, are concepts nothing but illusory shadows formed around their sound-images?

Discussion Questions (Saussure) • Gökçe Kınayoğlu on Saussure • Where does the meaning reside? Is it totally explainable within the “atomic” structure of the sign? What is the comparative role of syntax and grammar in the structure of language and the construction of meaning?

Discussion Questions (Saussure) • Gökçe Kınayoğlu on Saussure • What are the instances at which language evolves? Can we agree with Saussure that there exists single homogenous “states of equilibrium” of a language shared by all its speakers? Is it possible to capture, or artificially induce the evolution process of a language? Can a language be artificially constructed/planned (ex. Esperanto)?

Discussion Questions (Saussure) • Prof. Davis on Saussure • How could signs (which are not positive units) be represented and manipulated computationally? • How might Saussure’s ideas about linguistic signs apply to media such as video, photography, and music?

Readings for Next Week • Monday 09/13 (Narrative and Narration) • Textbook • David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson: Film Art: An Introduction. McGraw Hill, New York, 2003. Pages: 47-105. • Megan, Cecilia, Vijay • Wednesday 09/15 (Mise-en-scene and Cinematography) • Textbook • David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson: Film Art: An Introduction. McGraw Hill, New York, 2003. Pages: 175-184 & 207-293. • Jeff, Brooke, Nick

Lecture 03: Semiotics