Page 225 - Communication Cultural and Media Studies The Key Concepts

SIGNIFICATION

Signs function not through their essential nature but through their
relative position in the ordering of other signs and codes. In fact
Saussure argued that there is no intrinsic value in a sign, rather, its
meaning arises from its difference from other signs within the system.
So, in the above example, we know that the rose is a rose by
distinguishing it from others in the paradigm of flowers – it is not a lily
or a daffodil. Applying this idea to human relations, in the rules of
gender, the sign ‘male’ only makes sense through differentiation from
‘female’ – there are no necessary positive content to maleness.
As the above examples demonstrate, the meaning of a sign is
cultural. As such the sign is an unstable entity that relies not only on
contextual knowledge but also on the knowledge of other available
signs within that context.

See also: Paradigm, Semiotics, Signification, Syntagm

SIGNIFICATION

In semiotic analysis, signification is the output of signs. Signification is
as it were the content or import of communication.
Roland Barthes argued that there were in fact three levels of
signification:
. the denotative (this is a tree);
. the connotative (tree connotes nature);
. the mythical (nature is bountiful).

To summarise, an image of a tree can signify ‘bountiful nature’.
Barthes used the example of photography to demonstrate denotation.
The photograph denotes what was in front of the camera when the
image was captured. But how the image is photographed, and what
abstract values may be associated with the resultant picture, are a
matter of connotation. A photograph of a face denotes that face, but
what is connoted will depend on the genre of photography
(surveillance, fashion, news, art) and on stylistic manipulations of
composition, colour, etc. – the same face can connote ‘criminal’,
‘beauty’ and ‘supermodel’.
The mythical level of signification can also be termed the
ideological. At this level, signification is dependent on shared cultural
values and beliefs. Consider the use of images of countryside in
advertising. Signification here depends on the myth or ideology that

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