4. crossroads
plus sign
(poss denote christianity and therefore connote
crucifix suffering or oppression or sacrifice)

5. Pierce – Divide SIGNS up into 4 different kinds:
Arbitrary: no relationship between sign and signified e.g word
‘daffodil’ and actual daffodil
Iconic: resemble what they signify e.g. photo of daffodil, icon of
Jesus resembles actual Jesus, some computer icons
Indexical: act as evidence of the signified e.g. smoke of fire,
sweat of effort, spots of measles
Symbolic: linked arbitrarily to referents e.g. crown as symbol of
monarchy

6. This biohazard sign is a
completely conventional
symbol with no inherent
relationship to what it
represents.

7. Also
CONVENTIONAL
signs e.g. ‘NO’ circle
with cross through it

8. Roland Barthes - French semiologist
Denotation = literal or obvious meaning
Connotation = potential or suggested
meaning e.g. + is sign which has many
literal and potential meanings.

9. ‘Let us deconstruct this text’

10. Iconic sign (it is a photo of a real person, Symbolic – the photo was widely circulated and
tanks etc and visually resembles its interpreted. Became a symbol of western
referent.) democracy/consumerism vs. totalitarian communism
Indexical sign ( the light and shadow act as
evidence of time of day, weather etc. The photo
and video shot at same time used as political
evidence too.

14. Some definitions you should know:
Denotation
Connotation
Polysemic
Open/closed text
Preferred reading
Aberrant decoding
Anchorage – fixed usually with caption
Intertextuality

15. Intertextuality

16. Anchorage (used wrongly)