Instant Message/emotes

We encounter countless amounts of signs everyday. Many some sings that we have grown so accustomed to we may not even realize how important they are to our daily life, for instance that a red hexagon means stop or that the color green means go. Other signs or symbols may vary in their meaning and others may have meanings that are more difficult to interpret. The following video helped explain to me the different forms of signs and symbols and how they are used in everyday life:





Semiotics, the science of signs and sign systems, is important to analyze the way we communicate and how the forms of communication impact the way the message is perceived. The use of signs and symbols allows us also to communicate between people of different languages or cultures. For instance Pierce's "icon" or "index" signs can communicate meaning through language barriers. Icon signs, something objective or preexistent with respect to interpretation, like the "cross" will most likely be interpreted around the world as to represent Christianity, Jesus, etc. Also, index signs, signs that carry the meaning within them, like the example that smoke means fire, is something that can read despite differences in language or culture. Therefore, some signs carry a universal meaning. However, other signs such as "symbols" according to Pierce of the "signifier" according to Saussure, can be more intricate in their meaning. Symbols are signs that have physical relation between the sign and the meaning. Symbols include texts and ideologies. The example shows in the youtube clip that the color red can be used to represent a variety of things: love, anger, danger, etc. The interpretation of symbols may vary based on culture or current mood of the interpreter. Symbols are also complex in that they relate to words. The letters C-A-R refer to a car in the English language, just as C-O-C-H-E refer to a car in Spanish. In this context symbols may be less helpful in translating meaning across different culture or language barriers.

Instant messaging is a perfect example of how semiotics works in a modern context. When instant messaging smilies are used to express emotions. I believe that this type of sign would be considered an "icon" because universally this smiley =) would be used to indicate someone is happy, whereas this smiley =( would indicate that someone is sad. However the instant messaging slang makes, or a string of letters that represent a certain meaning, makes understanding IM conversations much more difficult. The letters "OK" might obviously represent the word "okay" but it might not be as obvious that the letters "JK" stand for "just kidding." Other IM slangs such as "LOL" can have more than one meaning like "laugh out loud" or "lots of love." Instant messaging complicates the use of symbols so that even people of the same language or culture have a difficult time interpreting messages, and turns it into slang, something that varies by generation. Signs and symbols are an important part of communicating but it is important to remember who the receiver will be before using them to send messages.