Semiotics

Entertainment / Literature / Semiotics: The study of both verbal and nonverbal signs. In Charles Sanders Peirce's thinking, a sign may fall into several possible categories: iconic signs bear some natural resemblance to what they signify. For instance, a map of Tennessee is an iconic representation of a 'real world' geography., indexical signs show some causal connection with what they signify. For instance, a stylized image of smoke as a sign indicating 'fire' would be an indexical sign., symbolic signs have an arbitrary or conventional relationship with what they signify. Note that in linguistics, almost all verbal sounds and written letters fall in the category of symbolic signs. Using the sounds /c/ and /a/ and /t/ to represent a furred quadroped that hunts mice, or the graphemes , , and as a visual representation of those sounds, is purely arbitrary.
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Syntagm

Technology / Television (TV) / Syntagm: In semiotics, a first level ordering of signs--e.g., in narrative television, an individual scene. The sequence of scenes is their syntagmatic structure. MORE

Icon

Technology / Computers / Icon: A small video display that acts as an activation link when clicked on. MORE

Sign

Science / Astrology / Sign: See 'Sun Sign.' MORE