Media Key Concept - Signification

According to Ferdinand de Saussure, signification is a process by which things in the world, and things in language, come together to produce MEANING.


Every element in language (whether it is a word, a gesture, a picture, an object you are looking at) means something. It is part of a process called signification. The element of language is a SIGNIFIER, and what it refers to is a SIGNIFIED. The combination of the two makes a SIGN.

So the word DOG is a SIGNIFIER, and the mental picture of a dog in your mind's eye, or a specific dog I am pointing to, is the SIGNIFIED.

The first thing that is of interest is that a SIGNIFIER can have any number of things as its SIGNIFIED. I was thinking of a border collie. What kind of dog were you thinking of? I happen to like dogs, and to me, dogs are associated with friendship and loyalty. But if you've been attacked by a dog, you might have been thiking of an angry rottweiler. Our emotional response to the signifier would be different. (For more on that, read about 'second-order signification')


The second thing worth noting about SIGNIFIERS, is that although I use the word DOG on this blog, a French blog would use the word CHIEN, a Spanish one, the word PERRO, a Korean blog, the word KAI (in an alphabet you aren't likely to recognise). A SIGNIFIER is a purely mental construct. We only use the words we use because we have agreed together to use those words.