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Peirce’s Triadic Model – Interpreting Signs

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A sign or  a symbol? Image by Lesley Lanir  When Ferdinand de Saussure was formulating his two part ‘dyadic’ model of the sign, consisting of a ‘signifier, or  the form that a sign takes, and the ‘signified,’ or concept  it represents, American, Charles Sanders Peirce (1839–1914) was theorizing his own model of semiotics and signs. In contrast to Saussure’s model, Peirce formulated a three-part triadic model consisting of an interpretant,  representamen, and an object. Symbols according to Peirce. Diagram Lesley Lanir By examining the relationship between objects, interpretants, and representamens and, in particular, the way the referent determines the sign, Peirce also distinguished three main ‘modes’  into which signs can be assigned: symbol, icon and index. Example of  an iconic sign. Image by Lesley Lanir Iconic signs according to Peirce. Diagram Lesley Lanir Example of an indexical sign. Image by Lesley Lanir Indexical signs according to Peirce
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Interpreting signs – Charles Sanders Peirce

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We are surrounded by numerous types of signs and sign systems that we may not be fully aware of. How we interpret these signs and react to our understanding of them gives them meaning. Charles Sanders Peirce (1839–1914) formulated the innovative triadic model of the sign, emphasizing in his theory that the way we interpret a ‘sign’ is what allows it to be signified – what gives it its meaning. Therefore, when creating a sign system the main attributes of any sign need to be clear enough to relay their intended meaning, or else they will be valueless. What are signs? Peirce’s theory does not focus on just material or concrete signs, but any kind of sign. For example, if a bus driver announces that the next stop is Central Station and a passenger rings the bell, lighting up the ‘stop’ sign  – then the sign system here has been understood. The message contained  in the driver’s announcement is the sign that he will drive straight past that terminal if no one responds. His announ
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Intertextuality - Is your work original?

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Texts – built from other texts. Image by National Library in Paris The theory of intertextuality is based on the idea that all signifying systems are a product of previous signifying systems; it proposes that texts are not the original product of one author, but of their connection with other texts, both written and spoken, and to the structure of language. The idea of intertextuality, a concept originated by French semiotician Julia Kristeva in the late 1960s, was founded on Ferdinand de Saussure’s  (1857-1913) theories of semiology and Mikhail Bakhtin’s  (1895-1975)  interests in the social aspects of language and his ideas of dialogism which he theorised in the 1920s. The founder of modern linguistics, Ferdinand de Saussure, viewed language as a socially-conceived structured system of elements, rules, and meanings. His theories of signs inspired the idea of structuralism, “the belief that phenomena of human life are not intelligible except through their interrelations,”  and
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Roland Barthes - Changes in approach to reading - work to text

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What are you really reading? Image by  Pedro Ribeiro Simões How do you approach reading? Do you passively consume the words on the page or screen in front of you, or do you interact with the writing? Linguist Roland Barthes had something to say on our conception of written language. French Philosopher, Linguist and Semiotician Roland Barthes (1915-1980) was one of the leading structuralist thinkers of the 20th century. He built his concept of the transformation of our approach to literary works based on the theories of Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913), Julia Kristeva, and Mikhail Bakhtin (1895-1975). Barthes noticed back in the 1970s that a change was taking place in how we approach language and literary written works, pointing out that disciplines were breaking down their borders and beginning to interact. Barthes viewed this move as part of the development of thought on  linguistics, anthropology, Marxism, and psychoanalysis – and he pointed out that the adjustment in attitu
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Transtextuality - What are you really reading?

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Palimpsests. What are you really reading? Image by Adam Jones How do you read texts? Are you sure your interpretation and understanding of what you are reading is only coming from the text in front of you or is some of the meaning being transferred from elsewhere? The idea of transtextuality suggests that it is. French literary critique Gerard Genette (1930) took the idea of Bakhtin and Kristeva’s concept of intertextuality - that texts are not the original product of one author- one step further; his work Palimpsests proposes and defines ‘transtextuality’ as a more comprehensive term that determines “all that which puts one text in relation, whether manifest or secret, with other texts.” In other words, Genette’s theory of transtextuality describes the numerous ways a later text prompts readers to read or remember an earlier one. He puts forward five types of transtextual relations which I have described in my article for Decoded Science , " What is Transtextuality? Unde
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Thank You For The Music - Jennifer Young

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Scottish author and writer, Jennifer Young has been writing all her life. Over the years,  she has published enough work to justify her membership to both the Romantic Novelists’ Association and the Society of Authors. Her romantic novel, "Thank You For The Music," is set in Scotland and on the Balearic island of Majorca. This a book of romance and relationship choices interlaced with deeper contemporary topics. Jennifer Young,  began her writing with short fiction and poetry; however, with time, her short stories lengthened into novels. As Jennifer's interests developed, so did her writing and at university she moved into journalism and travel writing .  Later an Open University geosciences degree took this versatile writer into the genre of science writing . Read more: about Jennifer here .
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Doris Lessing, R.I.P.

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Doris Lessing, the Nobel prize-winning British author of over 50 novels, has died, aged 94. Doris Lessing. Image by Elke Wetzig Doris Lessing , born Doris May Tayler in Persia (now Iran) on October 22, 1919, has died, aged 94. Her parents were British and in 1925, the family moved to the British colony in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). At aged thirteen, she left school. She has been quoted as saying that "unhappy childhoods seem to produce fiction writers." In 2007, aged 88, she was awarded the Nobel prize in literature and was described by the Academy as "that epicist of the female experience, who with scepticism, fire and visionary power has subjected a divided civilisation to scrutiny." Famous for The Golden Notebook , 1962,  The Grass Is Singing , 1949, and numerous other works, her most recent novel is Alfred and Emily , 2008, which she had said would be her last book. Read more about Doris Lessing at Author Doris Lessing 'prolific and uncon
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