Media Language

• Sign


  A word or image that is used to represent or convey an idea or object
• Signifier


  A sign's physical form such as sound, printed, word or image as distinct from its meaning
• Signified


  The meaning or idea expressed by a sign as distinct from the physical form in which it is expressed
• Dominant Signifier


  The most important (largest) signifier
• Icon


  A sign that resembles what it represents
• Index


  A sign that works by a relationship to the object or concept it refers to
• Codes


  Systems of signs that are used to create meaning in media texts. Can be symbolic or technical (e.g. Action code, Enigma code)
• Symbol


  The interpretation of signs
• Anchorage


  The way media language choices combine to attempt to reinforce the producer's intended meaning
• Ideology


  A system of ideas that determines beliefs and values. Dominant ideologies hold power within a culture
• Paradigm


  Related to the sets of possible signs that can be used within the structure
• Syntagm


  Related to the sequences (structures) that create meaning
• Signification


  What is meant by something – intended to communicate something that is not directly expressed
• Denotation


  The literal or surface meaning of signs
• Connotation


  The additional associative meaning that can be bought to a sign outside its literal, surface meaning
• Myth


  A socially or historically determined idea which has become accepted truth
• Media texts communicate their meaning


  Through a process of signification
• Signs can function at the level of denotation


  Involves the literal or common-sense meaning of the signs
• Signs can function at the level of connotation


  Involves the meanings associated with or suggested by the sign
• Constructed meaning can come to seem self-evident


  Achieving the status of myth through a process of naturalization
• Order of Signification


  • Denotation
  • Connotation
  • Ideology
  • Myth