In Partial Fulfillment

of the Requirements
in

CAE 211 LINGUISTICS,

LANGUAGE ACQUISITION AND
PRINCIPLES AND THEORIES IN
COMMUNICATION

A written report prepared by:

PADILLA, PAMELA GLYDEL P.

(MAEd Student)

Submitted to:

DR. GEMMA M. DE VERA

(Professor)
I. INTRODUCTION

Each passing day, we come across different signs, images, and symbols as well as
impression flashing before our eyes. Different messages collide to prompt our own sense
of reasoning. How we process and digest the diversity of information and understand the
symbols of what each message means is something to be looked upon. There have been a
 lot of theories that has tried to explicate the nature of human communication and how
human comprehend symbols as well as how it is applied in a given society or community,
this is so because there are different, individualistic perception of a particular form of
communication symbols and sign due to the complex nature of assimilating the meaning
and application of communication. These have made different traditions of
understanding, communication to be formed to better explain different concepts and
viewpoint of communication. Buttressing on this, Littlejohn & Foss (2008, p. 34) reveals
that “Robert Craig propounded a model that encapsulates the field of communication into
seven traditions. These are known as the semiotic, the phenomenological, the cybernetic,
the socio-psychological, the socio-cultural, the critical, and the rhetorical traditions”.
Thus, each of this tradition captures a different aspect or specialized area of
communication and knowing each one gives new and sometimes conflicting viewpoints
on why we relate and comprehend the information we absorb on a daily basis.

II. OBJECTIVES
a. To know what Semiotic is;
b. To identify the branches of Semiotic;
c. To analyze the concepts of semiotic tradition;
d. To interpret the meaning of the given signs based from the concept of semiotic
thinking;

III. CONTENT

Semiotic is the study of signs, symbols and signification (interpretation of said signs).
The semiotic tradition is an important communication theory including a host of theories
about how signs come to represent objects, ideas, states, situations, feelings and
conditions outside of themselves.

In the semiotic tradition communication is seen as a process of sharing meaning through

signs. It includes the study of verbal and non-verbal signs that can stand for something
else and how this interpretation impacts society.

THE FATHERS OF SEMIOTIC

1. Ferdinand De Saussure (1857-1913)

o One of the two major fathers in the study of signs and sign-using behavior.
o He was a Swiss linguist.
o Saussure proposed a simple structure of what a sign is; the signifier and the
signified.

2. Charles Sanders Pierce (1839-1914)

o An American philosopher. He understood many different principles of semiology.
o Pierce proposed the signs could be classifies into symbolic, iconic, and indexical
according to their associations.

3. Roland Barthes (1915-1980)

o Modern Interpreter
 o A structuralist thinker.
o He was highly influenced by Saussure and became a “prolific interpreter and
leading critic).
o In 1976, he was elected chair of literary semiology at the college de France and
his studies remain relevant today.

There are two concepts which are critical to this tradition ; 

Sign: “a stimulus designating or indicating some other condition,” as when smoke indicates the
presence of fire. It refers to something that actually exists .

Symbol: usually designates a complex sign with many meanings, including highly personal
ones. It allows us to form concepts assign and meaning to them.

The Concept of the Triad of the Meaning

(The Basis of Semiotic Thinking)

 1. the object (reference)

2. the person (interpreter)
3. the sign.

The word is not the actual object just a symbol therefore it has no meaning.  However the
thoughts, associations or interpretations that you link to it cause it to have meaning. Remember
meaning does not reside in the word but rather in people, the meaning you derive form a sign is
subjective.

A. The Semiotics of Ferdinand De Saussure

 \\

B. The Semiotics of Charles Sanders Pierce

SIGN CLASSIFICATIONS

Iconic – Signs that represent the object in some way.

Indexical – Signs that signify by means of direct relation.
Symbolic – Signs that signify through social conventions.

Iconic – They resembles what crayons look like

Indexical – One thinks of colour/colouring
Symbolic – They connote youth and exuberance

3 Branches in the Semiotic Tradition

Semiotics are often divided into 3 areas of study — semantics, syntactics and pragmatics.
Semantics– It focuses on the relationship between the sign and the referent. It seeks to find out
what the sign represents and recognises that the meaning of the sign depends on the person and
the situation in which the sign is used.

Syntactics – This is the study of the relationship among signs and how people combine signs
into complex systems of meaning. Think of how “emoticons” stringed to together can create a
sentence of meaning. (See Katy Perry Roar video)

Pragmatics – This branch is concerned with how the practical use of signs relates to everyday
life. This branch is very important to the field of communication because many communication
theorists are interested in how people use signs to and sign systems to accomplish things in the
world.

IV. SUMMARY

 Semiotics is the study of signs, symbols and signification (interpretation of

said signs).
 In the semiotic tradition communication is seen as a process of sharing
meaning through signs.
 Saussure proposed a simple structure of what a sign is; the signifier and the
signified.
 Pierce proposed the signs could be classifies into symbolic, iconic, and
indexical according to their associations.
 Barthes was elected chair of literary semiology last 1976.
 Sign is a stimulus designating or indicating some other condition,”. It refers
to something that actually exists.
 Symbol usually designates a complex sign with many meanings, including
highly personal ones. It allows us to form concepts assign and meaning to
them.
 There are 3 sign classifications;
 Iconic – Signs that represent the object in some way
 Indexical – Signs that signify by means of direct relation.
Symbolic – Signs that signify through social conventions.
 Semiotics are often divided into 3 areas of study — semantics, syntactics and
pragmatics.
 Semantics focuses on the relationship between the sign and the referent.
 Syntactics is the study of the relationship among signs and how people
combine signs into complex systems of meaning.
  Pragmatics is concerned with how the practical use of signs relates to
everyday life.

V. CONCLUSION

Semiotics is the science of sign. Things around us are concepts and objects. It means that they
have meaning. To get the meaning, we should have knowledge and critical thinking. Reading
and writing are the active skills. To produce a language both involve critical thinking activities.
Therefore, students must be taught how to analyze semiotics to improve their reading and writing
skills.

To sum up, the students learn the linguistic and sociological aspects of language through
methods. In this respect, the language teacher should pay attention to use these semiotic symbols
as a part of his/her language course. It should be borne in mind that the more the teachers
activate the use of these symbolic signs and symbols through activities in methods, the better the
students achieve the social and linguistic aspects of the target language and are able to melt
them in the same spot.

VI. EVALUATION

1. The use of semiotic in advertising has been successful for decades. How effective
these semiotics in selling us things? In what way do signs and symbols become
significant in promoting businesses?
2. Give 2 examples of logos that are being used in the business world today. Explain
how these semiotics effectively catch your attention and how do you see them.

VII. REFERENCES
https://coupleofcreatives.com/communication-theories/
https://torajoypatrick.wordpress.com/2013/10/05/semiotic-tradition/
https://sites.google.com/site/llanezaliezel/syntax/semiotics