Introducing Semiotics

One of the most notable debates on signs in the Ancient world took place between the Stoics and the Epicureans (around 300 BCE in Athens).
The crux of the matter concerned the difference between “natural signs” (freely occurring throughout nature) and “conventional” signs (those designed precisely for the purpose of communication).

difference between “natural signs” (freely occurring throughout nature) and “conventional” signs (those designed precisely for the purpose of communication).

Semiotics as a discipline is simply the analysis of signs or the study of the functioning of sign systems.

word “semiotics” comes from the Greek root, seme, as in semeiotikos, an interpreter of signs

Charles Sanders Peirce (1839–1914)

For Saussure, the sign signifies by virtue of its difference from other signs. And it is this difference which gives rise to the possibility of a speech community.

The only reason that the signifier does entail the signified is because there is a conventional relationship at play.

Later, “semiotics” will be used as the general designation for the analysis of sign systems.

The mental concept of a dog need not necessarily be engendered by the signifier which consists of the sounds /d/, /o/ and /g/. In fact, for French people the concept is provoked by the signifier “chien”, while for Germans, the signifier “hund” does the same job.

Central to Saussure’s understanding of the linguistic sign is the arbitrary nature of the bond between signifier and signified.