Semiotics is the study of signs and significance. How does
something become significant? How does meaning happen? What
exactly is meaning? Where does meaning come from? Since meaning
means a whole lot to us, semiotics should too and yet most of us
have never heard of this academic discipline. In everyday life,
we have two conflicting assumptions about signs and their
meanings. One is that a sign is a thing with intrinsic meaning.
The other is that a sign is not a thing but an evolving
relationship, an interpretation process that plays out over
time. The schools of thought in semiotics reflect these two,
very different assumptions. Between these two approaches the
first dominates both in academics and everyday life. When we say
“It’s a sign,” the word “It” usually refers to a thing, a
physical something that means and therefore is a code for
something else. A sunset is a sign that night is coming. A
weather vane is a sign for the direction of wind. The word “Dog”
codes for a canine animal. From this perspectiv