Semiosis

Semiosis is the making or production of meaning. The term was introduced by Charles Peirce (1839-1914) to describe the process of signification within the science of signs now termed semiology.

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Peirce and Saussure (1857-1913) were interested in linguistics, which examines the structures and processes of language. But they recognised that language is more than speech. So they developed the idea of semiosis to relate language to other sign systems both human and nonhuman. Today, there is disagreement as to the operating cause and effect. One school of thought argues that language is the semiotic prototype and its study illuminates principles that can be applied to other sign systems. The opposing school argues that there is a metasign system and that language is simply one of many codes for communicating meaning, citing the way in which human infants learn about their environment before they have acquired language. Whichever may be right, a preliminary definition of semiosis is any action or influence for communicating meaning by establishing relationships between signs which are to be interpreted by an audience.

Meaning: A meaning is a set of thoughts that people take symbols to have. Meanings can do many things, such as provoke a certain idea, or denote a certain real-world entity....

Charles Peirce: Charles Sanders/Santiago Peirce...

Signs: :This article is about the Signs movie. For the music single see Signs (music). Signs is also the name of a feminist journal. For other uses of the word sign, see Sign....