Semiotics is a science that studies all forms of communications, whether they are linguistic or not, and the way the signification mechanisms occur naturally and culturally.
According to semiotics, the basis of communication is the meaning attributed to things, which can simultaneously approach or depart the receptor of the message: if the meaning is similar, there is a relation of proximity, but when the meaning is different there may be a deviation between the message and its receptor. This science defends that communication is a process of production, transmission, reception, interpretation and storage of sense meanings.
Semiotics is based on the idea that the communication process is developed around the construction and sharing of meanings; this process is characterized by the excess of different meanings and messages that are continuously transmitted, and it can be simplified through codification. However, imperfection is an intrinsic characteristic of all sorts of communication, given the fact that symbols are not true representations of reality, and the meanings attributed to the same symbol or message can be different, and there may always be divergencies in the interpretation phase, and consequently a message never reaches its receptor the same way it was when it was initially transmitted.
Semiotics studies are then focused on the analysis of meanings and senses constructed by individuals, being signs considered essential to the communication process, so it is always known as the “science of signs”.
The concept of “sign” is central in semiotics, according to which in the Universe everything is a sign; the word can be understood as “something that refers something else”, which is, signs are always a representation of another thing, and they are the basis of the communication process.
According to semiotics, there are three types of signs:
icon – it represents a reference; it possesses all the characteristics of the meaning it wants to convey, even if the object isn’t really there.
ex: photography; pencil line that represents a geometric line.
index – it indicates something; it loses its meaning if the object isn’t there, but it doesn’t need and interpreter.
ex: smoke is an index of fire; a wall with a bullet is an index of a gunshot.
symbol – it directs to the object through a code, so the existence of an interpreter is always necessary.
ex: words, traffic signals.
