Chapter 4 Flashcards
Semiotics is the study of the life of ______
Signs (particularly in their production and interpretation)
The study of language holds significance for graphic designers as their work involves both _____ and _____ elements.
Visual and verbal elements
__________ is the study of signs
Semiotics
Who are the founders of semiology?
Ferdinand de Saussure and Charles Sanders Pierce
_________ were interested in the patterns and functions of language in everyday use (rather than their predecessors who were interested in the origins of language).
Semioticians
Pierce’s notion of the __________ - is described as the context, condition, or function of signs. It provides a translation of the sign, allowing us a more complex understanding of the sign’s object.
Interpretant
Saussure’s study of _________ focused on the meaning between individuals and on the commonalities across languages (rather than their eccentricities arising from their specific cultural origins).
language
_________ is the methodology that elements of human culture must be understood in terms of their relationship to a larger, overarching system or structure. It works to uncover the structures that underlie all the things that humans do, think, perceive, and feel.
structuralism
Structuralism is the methodology that elements of human culture must be understood in terms of their …..
It works to uncover the structures that underlie all the things that humans do, think, perceive, and feel.
relationship to a larger, overarching system or structure
According to Saussure’s research, the _______ is the element that is called forth by the stimulation of the signifier.
For example: the mental concept of a farm animal that gives milk is a _________ that is prompted by a signifier such as the word cow or a photograph of the animal.
Signified, signified
Signifier is the ….
sound or image that represents the concept (or signified). The physical representation.
Our mental concept or idea for “cow” is a
Signified
Our mental concept for “cow” is a
Signified
Designers today determine the appropriate _______ for another’s message with the goal of producing the corresponding _______ in the minds of audiences.
Designers determine the appropriate SIGNIFIER
with the goal of producing the corresponding SIGNIFIED in the minds of the audience
A system in which each word is reduced to a single sign that is unrelated to the sound of the word itself
Ideographic writing
A system in which there is a direct correspondence between symbols and sounds
Phonetic writing
_______ and ______ are what Saussure used to describe the structural dimensions of language.
Langue and parole
A sign is a basic unit of what language structure?
Langue
Grammar, spelling, syntax, and punctuation are all elements of _____ (the rules governing a linguistic system)
Langue
The concrete use of language, the actual utterances, is…. (The individual use of language in specific contexts)
Parole
T or F: Parole = speaking, Langue = language
True
The specific arrangement or ordering of words
Syntax
Syntagmatic, diachronic structure is best used in _____ design. How the sequence of pages play out over time is significant and may be attributed to the structural relationship among parts of the story or the larger visual concept.
Book design
Saussure’s notion of syntax also holds relevance for the organization of _______ in visual or pictorial space
Images
In visual terms, syntax or the ordering of elements can be described as
Composition
Early modernist movements in art and design believed the transformation of symbolic systems could be a _____ and social act.
Political
Transforming symbolic systems for political and social reasons was a belief of early _________ movements. They believed the conventional orders between meaning and form were arbitrary and thus subject to renegotiation.
Modernist
The intentionally disruptive sequencing of images within film
Collision montage
Italian futurist ________ blew apart the traditional linear structures of typographic layout to demonstrate his interest in speed, simultaneity, and sensation.
Filippo Tommasso Marinetti
Italian futurist Marinetti and his contemporaries used mathematical marks and diacritics in an effort to attack the ideas of _______ while also expressing their fascination with the machine/ mechanical. They sought to break the socially determined structure and rules of verbal language.
Syntax
Swiss Design, of the mid-twentieth century, is also referred to as
The International Typographic Style
Sausurre believed that meaning arises from the order of signifiers and there are two ways of ordering information or elements: 1) ______ (concerning positioning, which is diachronic and one word follows the other horizontally) and 2) ______ (concerning substitution, which is synchronic and all of the possible choices are available at the same time in a vertical fashion)
1) syntagmatic
2) paradigmatic
In an effort to open up meaning to a wider range of expressive options and to acknowledge audiences’ complex histories, post- modern designers appropriated ________ typefaces and layout strategies.
Vernacular
Vernacular is
The everyday language of ordinary people that is characteristic of a region or culture
The everyday language of ordinary people that is characteristic of a region or culture is_______
Vernacular
In contrast to their 20th century predecessors, _______ designers wanted to create a collision of cultural signifiers in order to bring forward additional meanings
Post modern designers
In true post-modern spirit, the meanings of typographic compositions were free floating and _______.
Pluralistic
_____ believed that signification, or the consumption of signs, is essentially a mental process, and that meaning resides in the mind, not in the objects themselves.
Charles Sanders Pierce
According to Pierce, ______ is the consumption of signs
Signification
The process of meaning-making through the interpretation of signs
Semiosis
Semiosis is the process of
Meaning making through the interpretation of signs
Pierce's doctrine of signs determined that four conditions must be present for something to constitute a sign: 1) 2) 3) 4)
1) representative condition - must represent an object (person, thing, or idea)
2) preventative condition - must represent something in some sense or capacity (it’s ground)
3) interpretive condition - must determine an interpretant (a translation of the original person, thing, or idea into some equivalent in the mind of the interpreter)
4) there must be a fundamental relationship amongst all of the things
Pierce’s model considered the broader notion of ______ as influencing interpretation. He also believed the material nature of the sign as having ________ for our behavior. The duality of the sign is fundamental to Pierce’s work.
context
consequences
Signs are based on the context and background of the interpreter. This is according to which major semiologist? Pierce or Sausurre?
Pierce
Signs that have physical features that resemble the objects they stand for
Iconic
Signs that point to the objects they stand for
Indexical
Signs that are based on an arbitrary rule or habitual association between the sign and an object
Symbolic
Most graphic design design - logos, glyphs on signage, info graphics, etc. - relies on _______ form.
Iconic form
Typeface design can be ______. For example, script typefaces reference handwriting; or serifs are ________ references to a time when ancient stone typographers ended a stroke of s letterforms with a tap of the chisel.
Indexical
The term used by Roland Barthes to describe how bourgeois society imposes its values on others
Myth
In selling consumers the _____ of higher social status, commerce speeds up the consumption of goods. It also continues to make it impossible for consumers to complete the set and achieve the appropriate personal identity or status.
Myth
The French semiotician ______ hold particular significance for designers because much of his writing addresses the visual world.
Roland Barthes
The linguist Roland Barthes began as a Structuralist, then later in his career, converted to
Post structuralism
The structural relationship of langue is
Diachronic (concerned with the way language has evolved over time)
Name the type of sign that matches the following definition: Points to or has a casual
relationship with the thing it stands for
index
What is a method used in the discipline of Semiotics?
Structuralism
Physically resembles the thing it stands for:
Icon
Abstract and must be learned through a repeated association with what it stands for:
Symbol
According to Charles Sanders Peirce, signification is a mental process where meaning resides in the mind, not the sign. T of F?
True
“Smoke” is an _____ for “fire”.
index
The meaning of a “symbol” is understood by the reader over time — it requires repeated
exposure in order for people to comprehend what it means. T or F?
True
Members of the Futurist movement in the early 20th century wanted to “wake people up” by disrupting and experimenting with
Syntax
Images have parole. T or F?
True
Ferdinand de Saussure identified two structural relationships in language. What are they?
Langue and parole
The structural relationship of parole is:
synchronic
Roland Barthes’ analysis of the cover of Paris Match magazine (with the young African soldier saluting) was a study of
myth
Charles Sanders Peirce was interested in language as a reflection of how we think. T or F?
True
Ferdinand de Saussure was interested in the origins of words and the history of language. T or F?
False
The Chinese writing system is an example of a language that is:
ideographic
In the English language, the meaning that a signifier has to what it signifies is arbitrary. T or F?
True
A _____ stands for something to someone in some respect
Sign
The meaning of “langue” in linguistics is the same as “syntax‘ in grammar. T or F?
True
The title of the book that contains the entire documentation of Ferdinand de Saussure’s ideas is called:
Course in General Linguistics
______ is a method used in the discipline of Semiotics.
?
The Chinese writing system is an example of a language that is:
Ideographic
Name the type of sign that matches the following definition:
Physically resembles the thing it stands for
Index
Ferdinand de Saussure identified two structural relationships in language. What are they?
Lange and parole
The title of the book that contains the entire documentation of Ferdinand de Saussure’s ideas is called:
Course in General Linguistics
Ferdinand de Saussure identified two components of the sign. What are they?
Signified and signifier
_____ stands for something to someone in some respect.
Sign
