Semiotics for Beginners

Introducing Graphic Guides

by Paul Cobley, Litza Jansz (Illustrator)

Why study signs? This perennial question of philosophy is answered in the 20th century by the science of semiotics. An animal's cry, poetry, the medical symptom, media messages, language disorders, architecture, marketing, body language-- all these, and more, fall within the sphere of semiotics.

Introducing Semiotics outlines the development of sign study from its classical precursors to contemporary post-structuralism. Through Paul Cobley's incisive text and Litza Jansz's brilliant illustrations, this seminal introduction identifies the key semioticians and their work and explains the simple concepts behind difficult terms. For anybody who wishes to know why signs are crucial to human existence and how we can begin to study systems of signification, this book is the place to start. It is the perfect companion volume to Introducing Barthes.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Semiotics, Linguistics, Language, Comics, Theory

176 pages, Paperback

First published July 20, 1993

About the author

Paul Cobley, Reader in Communications at London Metropolitan University, is an Executive Committee Member of the International Association for Semiotic Studies (IASS), a member of the Semiotic Society of America and of the Media Communication and Cultural Studies Association (MeCCSA). He is the author of a number of books, including The American Thriller (2000) and Narrative (2001). He edited The Communication Theory Reader (1996), The Routledge Companion to Semiotics and Linguistics (2001), Communication Theories 4 vols. (2006), and (with Adam Briggs) The Media: An Introduction 2nd edn (2001); he co-edits two journals: Subject Matters and Social Semiotics and is associate editor of Cybernetics and Human Knowing; he is series editor of Routledge Introductions to Media and Communications and is co-editor of the series Semiotics, Communication and Cognition (Mouton de Gruyter).


His new book, Contemporary Semiotics (Mouton de Gruyter), will be published in 2009. He currently has two edited books in press, Realism for the 21st Century: A John Deely Reader (University of Scranton Press) and The Routledge Companion to Semiotics (Routledge). A third edition of The Media (with Daniele Albertazzi) will be published in 2009.

Cobley’s research interests lie mainly in semiotics and include the work of Thomas A. Sebeok, biosemiotics, systems theory, subjectivity, popular narrative and communication theory. His recent work has attempted to make clear the cultural implications of biosemiotics, partly through a ‘biosemiotic praxis’ involving Modelling Systems Theory.

http://www.semioticon.com/semiotix/se...

Reviews

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got lost a little bit with the Russians after post-structuralism, but contemporary theories, specifically those of Eco, are well-put and digestible. In other news, I had a dream that Saussure and Derrida were fighting each other in a boxing ring after reading this book one night, so that’s something.

[Uroš Đurković · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mnogo sam voleo izdanja biblioteke „za početnike” – pristupačna su, sadržajna, zabavna i dobro ilustrovana. A slab sam na knjige sa ilustracijama.

Ovo izdanje daleko prevazilazi strip-slikovnicu i postaje odlična mapa istorije semiotike (i semiologije) – od Pirsa i Sosira, preko Lotmana, Mukaržovskog i Barta do Eka.

Mnogo mi je bila zanimljiva priča o Sebeoku i zoosemiotici – o tome kako životinje formiraju znakovne sisteme i kako oni dopiru do nas. Naravno, bez Ikskliovog Umwelta, ne bi bilo ni Sebeoka. Zaista mi je uzbuljivo viđenje u kome je jezik mentalna prerada sveta, a ne oruđe komunikacije – Sebeok smatra na osnovu evolucionih istraživanja da se jezik razvijao u svrhu stvaranja spoznajnih obrazaca, a ne razmene poruka! Dakle, jezik kao sredstvo komunikacije je drugostepeni sistem, a prvobitni ljudi neverbalno su opštili u skladu sa sopstvenim Umweltom. Jezik je posledica, ne uzrok.

I mnoge su me još stvari fascinirale – Jakobsonov nezaobilazni model komunikacije, ili viđenje zajednice kao „istraživačkog staklenika semioze”.

A možda je i posebna zavodljivost semiotike to što sve navodi na svoju vodenicu. Dakle, sve može biti predmet njenog izučavanja u meri u kojoj naša istraživačka volja poželi da to bude.

Sve u svemu – preporuka!

Na samom kraju naveden je i sasvim fin pregled dela za dalje čitanje.

[Salma · Rating 3 out of 5]

سلسلة (أقدم لك) يصدرها المجلس الأعلى للثقافة بمصر هي بمثابة تعريف بسيط لفن من الفنون أو العلوم أو التيارات الفكرية أو العلماء أو الفلاسفة...0
السلسلة مصورة... فهي عن طريق الرسوم تحاول تقريب المعلومات...0

و ابتدأت من هذه السلسة بكتاب: أقدم لك علم العلامات... 0
يتحدث الكتاب عن تاريخ علم العلامات أو ما يسمى بالسيميائية أو علم الدلالة... حيث ابتدأ بالحديث عن ما قبل تاريخ علم العلامة؛ من أفلاطون مارا بكثير من المفكرين و الفلاسفة و علماء اللغة الذين أسهموا في تشكيل هذا العلم و تطويره أولهم سوسير في القرن الثامن عشر ثم بيرس و غيرهم... و لينتهي بالحديث عن إيكو...0
علم العلامات يمكن أن يطبق على كل شيء حولنا... فهو يدخل في كل مناحي الحياة و ليس فقط في اللغة... و الكتاب ابتدأ بعبارة تقولها سيدة لرجل في حفلة "عليك أن تفهم علم العلامات، حتى تفهم الثقافة المعاصرة" و من يتقنه فهو يتقن الإيحاء و لغة العصر و الإعلام و التحكم بأساليب الخطاب بل يقبض على زمام الأمور... ضرب الكتاب مثلا عن مكتب بريطاني للاستشارات يقوم على البحث حيث يقدم الحلول العلاماتية لمساعدة صانعي الصور و مخططي المؤسسات و مطوري المنتوجات في خلق استراتيجياتهم... 0
حين طـُلب من إيكو تعريفا لعلم العلامات رد بأن علم العلامات هو التاريخ ككل...0
لذلك فإن هذا العلم في غاية الأهمية...0

الكتاب ليس سهلا جدا كما قد توحي الرسوم... فالكتاب يحتاج لبذل جهد، و بعض الفقرات تحتاج لإعادة القراءة عدة مرات، فالموضوع الذي يناقشه و الفترة الزمنية التي يرصدها من الصعب اختزالها ببضعة أسطر و رسوم، و لذلك وجدت بعض الفقرات غير مفهومة و أحسب أن الترجمة لها دور في عدم فهمي أيضا، إذ ليست بتلك الترجمة البديعة... و لكن الرسوم أضفت على الكتاب شيئا من الحياة و كسرت جمود المادة...0



بأية حال أشعر بأن الكتاب قد أدى دوره فقد قدم لي علم العلامة فعلا بشكل عام و أشعر أن قدمي قد وضعت على بداية الطريق بشكل لا بأس به... و كثير من الأسماء التي ساهمت في علم العلامة باتت مألوفة بالنسبة لي...0

فيما أقرأ هذا الكتاب مرت بي جملة كتبها أحد الزملاء في تأملاته "هذا الوجود فاقد للدلالة و متناقض جدّاً. إنّه عبثي"
فتساءلت أن كيف لوجود فاقد للدلالة أن ينتج شيئا دقيقا و عميقا كالدلالة التي أشغلت العقول عبر العصور لمحاولة الإحاطة بها و دراستها و استغلالها في مناحي الحياة؟ 0
لو نظر واحدنا حوله لوجد العلامات في كل مكان... بل لو تدبر في الكون لوجده بكل ما فيه ما هو إلا دلالة على مبدعه...0
قد عبر عن ذلك الأعرابي بأسلوب بسيط ممتنع منذ مئات السنين... "أوليس البعرة تدل على البعير، والماء يدل على الغدير، والأقدام تدل على المسير، وسماء ذات أبراج، وأرض ذات فجاج ألا تدلان على الحكيم الخبير؟" 0
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على كل رغم جمال فكرة السلسلة لكن ترجمتها سيئة أو لأقل ليست على مستوى واحد
فهذا الجزء أعجبني
و لكن حين قرأت اقدم لك فوكو لم يعجبني و قررت أن لا أشتري منها ثانية

[Michael P. · Rating 4 out of 5]

The structure (it seems appropriate to begin with the structure) is to examine proto-semiotics followed by early and unsophisticated semiotics (i. e. Saussure), then chart its growth into the complex discipline it is today mostly by looking at how different countries have contributed uniquely to the field, then finish with some practical applications in advertising.

This is a very sensible approach. It fails to do two things, however. It does not critique semiotic theory beyond what one generation wrote of another and the comic book telling only allows for one level of depth for each idea. It represents these ideas well, but there is ALWAYS so much more to them.

The virtue of this book is that it reminds us that Lucan and Derrida are fools and that any idea can be constructed and even proven with language, but this does not make these ideas true. There is much foolishness here, but the basic idea behind semiotics is very sound indeed. (The book does not assert the claims in this paragraph, but smart and wise people will understand that this is so.)

[Edward · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book outlines the key figures in the development of semiotics, but given its length suffers somewhat from overloading the reader with information. The bits where it gave examples were great—it just needed more of those. That said, having read this book I feel encouraged to find out more on this subject. I particularly enjoyed the quite extensive section on Umberto Eco and was glad that he had the last word in the book.

[Jason · Rating 2 out of 5]

hard going this one, seems to over complicate a simple idea

[Griffin Duffey]

have no idea if this is good or not but it was fun and I’m at least kind of familiar with like 15 new names I had never heard of before. Saussure’s importance cannot be overstated.

[Wilde Sky · Rating 2 out of 5]

A basic illustrated guide to Semiotics.

This book left me cold / confused - I'm not really sure whether this was due to my limited knowledge or the structure of the book (over complicating a simple idea).

[Sophie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ich lieb Comics allgemein und Theoriecomics find ich die beste Idee überhaupt. Aber wie überall lauert auch da die Gefahr für diskriminierende Darstellungen. Siehe das Beispiel "Inzest" für kulturelle Unterschiede, das als Phänomen einer Schwarzen, sehr primitiv und rassistisch gezeichneten Personengruppe dargestellt wird. I mean, was ist mit dem habsburgischen Inzest?

[Professor · Rating 5 out of 5]

can be quite difficult for beginners of critical theory but once you get the hang of it, it provides a perspicuous extension to the ideas of structuralism and post-structuralism..

[Victoria · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a perfect match for students of literature, linguistics, philology. The illustrations are really funny and help understand the theory and history of semiotics. Also, I'm sure that people who work in marketing, public relations and advertising should pay more attention to semiotic connections between things, signs, etc.

[Maria (Mulú) Avila · Rating 2 out of 5]

Es un libro que pienso que sería perfecto para una persona que ya sepa de semiótica... pero no para principiantes. Muy filosófico y más que explicarte las cosas de manera sencilla, dan vueltas en muchos de los puntos sin explicar en concreto.

[Viktoria · Rating 3 out of 5]

Изключително packed с информация, а някои от илюстрациите бяха страхотни.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating: 3½ stars.

A good introduction to semiotics, with the caveat that because of shorter length there's a bit of information overload involved. This is in part because it charts the history of semiotics and the key figures involved, giving you an understanding of how the discipline involved but also introducing a number of ideas that are built upon, discarded, or complicated only a few pages later.

I would recommend it, but I think you'd need to still pair it with a longer introductory work.

[Aranza (grumpy version) · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is basically linguistics explained to you with some fun drawings added to the mix. Unfortunately, the drawings didn’t help me to understand all that much. Semiotics in and on itself can be a challenging topic, but I’m not sure I like how it was talked about here. I wanted to have a better grasp on the existing theories, but it felt more like a history lesson to which I admit I got lost at some point around the middle. I recovered eventually, but yeah, this felt like a chore.

I have other books in these series in my tbr (about fascism, Marxism and Nietzsche), and i truly hope those topics are less confusing.

[Carter Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite interesting and thought provoking! A little confusing to read at some parts (comic panels always get me) and I suspect it could’ve been explained with better examples, but overall really solid!

3.5/5 ⭐️

[Lara Hoffmann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Always good to combine graphic novels and theory.

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoying this series of "Introducing....: A Graphic Guide" overviews on a variety of topics. I appreciated how the fundamental theories, principles and terms were explained, with the amount of detail just about right. I'm reading some heavy philosophy of language books right now, with no background in semiotics or linguistics, and this book has helped me with unfamiliar concepts and people behind the theories.

[Martin Hare Michno · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent introduction to semiotics. However, some of the illustrations seemed racist.

[Castles · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn’t think I’d like this book, and I didn’t pick it up with much enthusiasm, and I could even do without the illustrations, but I’ll admit it’s a nice little taste of this vast world of semiotics and a nice way to start or refresh some key ideas, especially when considering how it deals with different approaches and thinkers.

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Is it possible to take seriously an introductory treatise on a serious subject like semiology when it is illustrated in the manner of comic books? Or is it intellectual snobbery to look askance at such a text, even if the pictures are clever and helpfully amplify the text? Wondering a bit about semiotics, I set myself the reading Umberto Eco's "The Name of the Rose." Rarely does an academic pause in the writing of learned tomes to write a novel with which to say "There! That is what I mean in my lectures." If Eco may jump to another genre to makes his points, why ought not Professor Paul Cobley, the author of this introduction, be allowed the same thing? Semiotics is the theory and study of how communication occurs through the use of signs and symbols. A hundred years ago, I cobbled together an interdisciplinary master's degree in human communication theory. The mental muscles developed in that pursuit have not been much exercised since. This is a fun way to get back into shape. Having whetted my appetite with Eco and Cobley, I can hardly wait to read Roland Barthes' "Mythologies" in which we draws upon professional wrestling, hairstyles in movies set in Ancient Rome, toys, striptease, the design of the Citroen automobile, astrology and the photography of gourmet cooking.

[Daniel Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't know much about semiotics before, so I have no idea if the text itself is accurate. However, I thought this was overall a very clear book. The author went through a lot of different theorists and broke down their ideas. I appreciated the use of graphics and illustrations to support the text - it especially helped because the topics themselves seem very abstract. However, I gave this book 4 stars because I wish it actually had more graphics. Specifically, I would have liked to have seen a timeline to keep track of the historical development, maybe a map to show where different academics were based, a glossary for the jargon, maybe even a table that related the different theorists to each other. After the 20th or so person showed up in a 176 page book, they kind of started to blur together. I think graphic organizers would have helped me keep everything straight.

In addition, this book is about 20 years old at this point - although that certainly isn't its fault, I don't know how well it has aged.

[Sophoula · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book over the course of a weekend. I thought it was superb. It is incredibly difficult to distill philosophy and I think Paul Cobley did a spectacular job. I thought that the illustrations by Litza Jansz were helpful, particularly the charts and graphs. The drawings also allow your brain to take a breather before continuing on to the next concept. Prior to reading this book, I thought I had a cursory, (at best), knowledge of semiotics. However, I realized that semiotics intersects and overlaps with the works of many philosophers, (which was unexpected by me). In fact, semiotics' impact on our daily lives is tangible and many of the examples used by Cobley are relatable. The topic is not "easy," but the book is enormously helpful for someone who wants to begin reading the works of semiologists, but who needs some historical and theoretical context.

[Geoff Lynas · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book introduces Semiotics. It is not an introduction to Semiotics. I now need to find an introduction in order to make sense of this. I am sure it is all as clear as day to anyone with a fairly in-depth knowledge of the subject (ironically). There is no glossary which does not help. Much of it reads, to me, like the quote below. I gave it a three star because I didn't know what else to do. Brain resting now.

Page 29: "Note that this is a snapshot of the triad in the possibility of unlimited semiosis. The interpretant here represents Thirdness. But the interpretant becomes a First for the next triad. As a first, then, the Sign (or Representamen) also acts as a Third, bringing the next interpretant into a relationship with the Object, or rendering "inefficient relations efficient", establishing "a habit or general rule whereby (signs) will act on occasion"..."

[Phoebe Macdonald · Rating 4 out of 5]

A brilliant beginner's guide to signs and how our brain interprets them. Worth the read if you're interested in art history and want to know why you think of certain things when you view an image. This was more about the psychology behind it as opposed to what specific symbols mean, but I preferred it that way.

[Vikas Datta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lucid guide to this vital and defining human activity...

[Matthew Royal · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great intro to semiotics -- it's a comic book, but don't think it's trivial. Great launch point for students or the casually interested.

[Nouru-éddine · Rating 4 out of 5]

::انطباع عام::

عندما سئل أمبرتو إكو عن تعريف لعلم العلامات كان واضحًا من إجابته أن علم العلامات هو التاريخ كله! أجل، فنحن بشكل يومي نستخدم العلامات للتعبير عن إيحاءات ودلالات في سياقنا الذاتي أو الجمعي سواء أدركنا هذا أو لا.
هذا الكتاب رائع كمدخل لفهم علم العلامات السيموطيقا وعلاقاته المتعددة وأهم من عمل على إنشاء هذا العلم بداية من سويسر الذي قدم البنيوية كتحليل علاماتي للنظم ومعه كل من شتراوس الذي قسم الأساطير لوحدات صغيرة كما الكلمة تنقسم إلى وحدات صوتية فونيمات. ثم ظهر دريدا مدشنًا عصر ما بعد البنيوية التفكيكي الذي شجب لاإنسانية طروحات سوسير وشتراوس ولاكان وفوكو الذي كان لا يظهر بنيويته بشكل كامل، فالبنيوية تلغي دور الإنسان وتجعله عنصرًا وظيفيًا في النظام السيموطيقي. ثم يصل الكتاب بعد هذه الرحلة إلى الحاضر حيث يتم استخدام العلامات بشكل فج ويوميًا في الدعاية والإعلان لتوليد دلالات وإيحاءات رمزية للمتلقي سواءً بالعلامات الملفوظة اللغوية والشعارية أم غير الملفوظة الصورية أو الصوتية.

***

::الكتاب::






































































***

[Ed · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Very Short Introduction series takes the view that a leader in a particular field or area should from one perspective write a short, dense but approachable text book (with a few small images where crucial) and that’s that. This introduction to semiotics is written in an entirely different style, with little text on each page and a nod to graphic novels in the dense mass of panels, speech boxes and non-linear flow of information across each page.

Semiotics is a term very happily bandied about by cultural elites and their hangers on and after reading The Name of the Rose and a little about Eco (a famous semiotician) I was curious to dip my feet a little further than I had previously. Overall, this introduction did what I thought it would – I do have a better grip on the term and on the history of semiotics as a field. Whilst clearly designed to make this esoteric field a little more easy-to-grasp there is a large amount of jargon specific to semiotics. Worse still, as the scope of semiotics and signs was seen to extend into more and more domains of intellectual study more and more specific fields are explored via semiotics – and each of these also has a barrier to lay understanding, because of yet more jargon for each extra field mentioned.

That said, as I progressed through the book I rarely had to go back and check something or re-read a passage. Some of the most important revelations in the field were the clearest written parts of the book, which I think was an excellent decision on the part of the authors.

So, what is semiotics? In the simplest terms it is the study of signs of things. The term sign has many meanings in different contexts, but (without checking methodically) they are all discussed within semiotics. The key distinctions persisting in semiotics are the study of signs that are natural (e.g. genetics, body language, animal behaviour) or conventional (e.g. human language, culture, society). As semiotics has progressed as a field the distinction between the two has eroded and their scope broadened. There are some very fascinating revelations about the way we think and the way we communicate with one another wrapped up in the history of semiotics and for this reason I think whilst it is a difficult and obscure field to investigate it is worth the persistence. It is unimaginably complex in discrete examples, but some of the summarisation or models displayed in this book (and no doubt other introductions) are engaging and thought-provoking.

[Marc · Rating 4 out of 5]

A concise, well-written description and condensed history of semiotics. This whole graphic guide series feels like it could do more with the actual graphics, but this one seemed better than the last (which was about quantum physics). Still not sure whether I'm a victim of language or an active participant, but I did not expect this book to answer that question for me.

Here's an entertaining and short video (~4 mins) if you're interested in semiotics (the study of signs), but not so interested you want to read a whole book:
What Is Semiotics?
(This video has no connection with the book beyond shared subject matter.)

Whether you realize it or not, you practice semiotics every day. May your paths to the Final Interpretant be footloose and carefree (or, you know, at least not stuck in some vast semantic wasteland between signifier and signified).
---------------------------------
SIGNS I'M STILL INTERPRETING
semeiotikos | langue | parole | syntagm | phoneme | mytheme | logocentrism | différance | zoosemiotic | pervigilium
---------------------------------
I'll leave you now with this rather thought-provoking passage on one theory:

"There was a developed capacity for language; but this was unaccompanied by speech. Language therefore evolved for the purposes of cognitive modelling rather than the purposes of communicative message-swapping. As such, language can be understood as mental processing rather than as a tool for communicating with other beings. Communication among early humans was carried out by non-verbal means; it was only later that language was co-opted for the verbal communicative function."