CMN2160 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Denis Mcquail, Polysemy, Roland Barthes
5 Mar 2016
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Theoretical perspective seeks to understand how systems work to structure their individual parts at any given moment in time. The signifier is a sign or symbol that can stand for something else. By definition, all words are signifiers since they always stand for something else (e. g. a thought, a feeling, or a thing). A signifier is used by the person wanting to communicate. o! The signified is what the sign or symbol represents what it is interpreted to mean by the receiver of the communication. o! The signifier + the signified = the sign. The form + the idea in your head = the meaning. Saussure argued that the relationship between the signifier and the signified was arbitarary, and dependent upon a shared code. The choice of a given slice of sound to name a given idea is completely arbitrary (saussure, 1966: 114)".
