Introduction to Communication Science week 4: 4.2 Message Construction

I explained in our first class that in the nineteen
sixties communication scientists

started to pay more attention to message
construction and

deconstruction under the influence of semiotics
and literature studies.

We adopted from literary theory the idea that
everything that

communicates something is a ‘text’ that can be
‘read’.

The most influential model from semiotics was
perhaps this nineteenth century model by

Ferdinand de Saussure in which he explained
that a sign was made up of two things.

First of all, a signifier, which is the form of the
sign.

Secondly, the concept it represents, the
signified.

The word: ‘love’ is a set of black lines to a white
background,

in this case on your computer screen. That’s the
signifier.

The signified is the concept of love. If we take a
traffic light.

The signifier is a red light hanging over the road.

The signified is the idea that you have to stop.
But, the process of giving meaning to this sign,

in other words 'the signification', is not the same
for everyone.

Although it’s quite clear for most people that
they have to stop for a red light,

for Judith it also means that she will arrive late
at her job interview.

She will react very differently to the red light than
Meg, who was not in a hurry at all.

Semiotics tells us that there are two levels of
signification: Denotation and connotation.

Denotation is the first order of signification,

the explicit meaning of a sign, in this case a red
light.

Connotation is the second level of signification,
it is what the denotation represents,

all associated meanings, in this case it means
stopping, but is also results in anger

and frustration for Judith because she might be
late at her interview.

We can easily imagine different people reacting
very differently to this sign,

adding their own unique background to the
signification process.

So embedded in this model is the idea of
polysemic messages.

Messages with a different meaning for different
people.

Some signs have a widely shared connotation.

On a denotative level it’s a black little drawing
against a white background.

On a conative level most people will recognize
this as the representation for the ladies room.

Of course on a very personal level

the connotation will still vary depending on how
bad someone needs to go.

The Jacobson model from 1960 is a clear
example of

how these ideas were adopted by
communication scientists.

It combined the well-known transmission
perspective, sender, message, and receiver,

with several of the elements we just discussed,
but with a different name.

Each message, according to the Jacobson
model refers to something

outside of the message: a context.

A red traffic light refers to the concept of
stopping.

A love letter refers to the concept of ‘love’.

Another new element was the explicit mention of
the ‘code’ of a message,

which is the form that a message takes, in
semiotics the ‘signifier’.

So, in our two examples the codes are a red
light

and a letter consisting of words written in a
specific language.

This latter code requires a complicated skillset.

One has to be able to read but also know the
specific language in which it was written.

Then, when the explicit meaning was read, the

individual audience member can add his or her
own associations to the signification process.

Creating a unique outcome on a receiver level.