Barthes- An influential French philosopher and literary critic, who explored social theory, anthropology and semiotics, the science of symbols, and studied their impact on society
Pierce- American philosopher, logician, mathematician, and scientist
Saussure- A Swiss linguist and semiotician
Semiotics- The study of signs and symbols and their use or interpretation
Sign- Something that signifies something else
Signifier- A sign’s physical form (such as a sound, printed word, or image) as distinct from its meaning(saussure)
Signified- The meaning or idea expressed by a sign
Icon- Person or thing regarded as a representative symbol
Index- A sign that has a link to its object
Symbol- Thing that represents or stands for something else
Code- A system of words, letters, figures, or symbols used to represent others
Dominant Signifier- Main accepted meaning of sign
Anchorage- Words “pin down” the meaning of an image
Ideology- Set of opinions or beliefs by an individual or group
Syntagm- A set of linguistic forms that are in a relationship to one another
Signification- The representation or conveying of meaning
Denotation- The literal or primary meaning of a word
a reactionary text– text that supports the dominant ideology
a radical text-texts that challenge the dominant ideology
Connotation- An idea or feeling which a word invokes for a person in addition to its literal or primary meaning
paradigm– a typical example or pattern of something; a pattern or model
Myth- A widely held but false belief or idea