Semiotics - Theory

Semiotics- Semiotics, also called semiotic studies is the study of signs and sign processes (semiosis), indication, designation, likeness, analogy, metaphor, symbolism, signification, and communication.

Semiotics is often divided into three branches:

 Semantics: Relation between signs and the things to which they refer; their denotata, or meaning

 Syntactics: Relations among signs in formal structures

 Pragmatics: Relation between signs and sign-using agents

The study of semiotics encoding and decoding

This theory says that media texts are encoded by the producer (the people who make media texts) and these texts are full of ideologies values and messages

The text is then decoded by an audience, however not all audiences will decode and respond to the text in the same way. In some cases this is not what the producer intended.

How encoding and decoding works

When a producer creates a text it is encoded with a meaning or message intended to be conveyed to the audience. This is called the preferred meaning.

This theory will sometimes be correctly decoded and the audience will understand what the producer wants them to.

Sometimes the producer can encode a message which is not a message that is not completely understood by making a message ineffective.