It is a theory that has had important repercussions in the human and social sciences because it has helped us to deeply understand our communication, the interactions we establish, as well as some elements of the contexts in which we develop.
Below we review in general terms what semiotics is, some of its antecedents and the effects it has had on the social and human sciences.
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What is semiotics?
Semiotics is the scientific discipline that studies signs and the ways in which meaning is constructed and transmitted during communication. It is part of the theories of language, where the sign is defined as the minimum unit of a sentence; an element (object, phenomenon, signal) that is used to represent or replace another that is not present; therefore, the sign is an element loaded with meaning.
To study this, semiotics is divided into three main branches: semantics, pragmatics and syntactics. Among its antecedents is Saussure's theory of signs, which is also known as semiology.
In fact, the term semiology comes from the Greek “semeion” meaning sign. Its antecedents can be found in the field of atomistic philosophy, and also in the 17th century, when John Locke german mobile numbers spoke of semiotics as a science or set of principles to explain signs.
In the same century, the German philosopher Johann Lambert wrote a treatise where he addressed the same topic, already under the concept of semiotics. However, the most recognized antecedent of this discipline comes from the 20th century and the studies of Ferdinand de Saussure and Charles Sanders Peirce.
Like any other discipline, semiotics has gone through different stages and has been transformed according to different philosophical and scientific currents. Zecchetto (2002) speaks of three generations of semiotics: the first one arose around 1950 and was characterized by structuralist thought; the second, in 1970, has an approach that moves towards post-structuralism; and in the third, around 1980, the question of the interaction between the text and the interlocutor arises, which is why it is an interactionist paradigm.
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Semiotics or semiology? Are there differences?
Although the answer depends largely on which author you ask, in general they are terms that are used interchangeably.
However, there are those who argue that semiology is the theoretical description of symbolic systems in general; and semiotics refers to the study of particular systems, for example, images, fashions, cinema, advertising, among others.
At a formal level, and especially since 1969 when the International Association for Semiotic Studies (IASS) was institutionalized, a single term is recognized: semiotics; to encompass the two types of study we have mentioned.