Sign – Stands in for something else

Code – used to construct meaning in media forms

Convention– the accepted way of doing something

Dominant signifier– the main thing that stands in for something else

Anchorage– words that go along with an image to give meaning of context

Ferdinand De Saussure – Swiss linguist, semiotician and philosopher

1. Signifier: the physical existence (sound, word, image) e.g. red/ leaf/round/ apple
2. Signified: the mental concept e.g. fruit/ apple/ freshness/ teachers pet/ healthy

Cs Peirce– American philosopher, logician, mathematician and scientist who is sometimes known as “the father of pragmatism”

1. Icon – where something is a sign that looks like an object
2. Index – where a sign has a link to its object
3. Symbol – where a sign has an arbitrary or random link to its object

Roland Barthes – French literary theorist, essayist, philosopher, critic, and semiotician

1. Signification: The process of signifying by signs or symbols
2. Denotation: A literal meaning of a word in contrast to the feelings or ideas behind it
3. Connotation: A feeling that invokes for a person in addition to its literal meaning
4. Myth: Something that is made up and widely false; a rumour
5. Ideology: A system of ideas which forms the basis of economic or political theory and policy
6. Radical: Challenges dominant ideas
7. Reactionary: Confirms dominant ideas

1. Paradigm – a typical example or pattern of something; a pattern or model.
2. Syntagm – a linguistic unit consisting of a set of linguistic forms (phonemes, words, or phrases) that are in a sequential relationship to one another.