LCS111

• Sign


  A symbol or device used to represent something else
• Symbolic sign


  A sign that has an arbitrary relationship between the signifier and signified
• Iconic sign


  A sign that resembles the thing it represents
• Indexical sign


  A sign that is directly connected to the thing it represents
• Multimodality


  • All communication uses a range of modes
  • Mode = different "semiotic resources used for making meaning
  • Verbal modes: writing, speech
  • Non-verbal modes: image, gesture, gaze, posture, sound, colour, objects/artifacts
  • Modes have different affordances (meaning-making potential)
  • Different modes do different kinds of communicative work and are suited to different goals
• Saussure and Peirce's focus was on the classification of signs (structuralist approach)
• Kress (2010): multimodal approach, "All communication is multimodal", "Language is no longer most important semiotic mode"
• Multimodality pays more attention to the medium of communication, which is the physical means used to disseminate the message
• Mediums


  • Cell phones, television, books, radio, newspapers, emails, photographs
• Mass media


  The institutions which create and disseminate the news and other public broadcasting
• Blombos caves provide evidence of modern human behaviour among Middle Stone Age people in South Africa 77,000 years ago
• Similar sites in Eurasia date about 35,000 - 40,000 years ago
• Red ochre


  The red ochre pieces are engraved with a cross hatch design which appears intentional, indicating a deliberate sequence of choices, and are probably arbitrary signs with symbolic intent, the meaning of which is now unknown
• Signifier


  The form of the sign
• Signified


  The meaning of the sign
• Arbitrary sign


  A sign where the relationship between the signifier and signified is not obvious and depends on social convention/learning
• Symbolic sign


  A sign where the relationship between the signifier and signified is arbitrary
• Mode


  The different semiotic resources used for making meaning
• Medium


  The physical means used to disseminate the message
• Material


  The physical substance the message is made from
• The "story all about how my life got twisted upside down" video can be considered a code because it is a system of signs governed by rules
• Code


  A system of signs governed by rules
• Signs used in the "story all about how my life got twisted upside down" video


  • Mostly non-verbal
  • Written text, emoticons, emojis (can include images, sound files)
• Mode


  Written text, emoticons, emojis
• Medium


  Cell phone
• Emojis are considered cool when chatting and can have different meanings/signifieds when combined together
• Emojis can evoke humour, anger, concern
• Emojis can be considered as slang in the professional environment
• You should know what the emojis mean and understand the context of the chat before sending an emoji
• Emojis develop according to socio-cultural norms and rules
• The test will cover material from Lectures 1-10 and Chapters 1-3 of the textbook
• The test will be computer-based and you may use your own device and take it wherever you have internet connection
• For those without devices or adequate wifi, Cassinga Labs (behind swimming pool) will be available on 4 April 12h00-16h00 and 5 April 12h00-16h00
• The LCS 111 mid-semester test will be 60 marks, 1 hour, and cover Lectures 1-10 and Textbook Chapters 1, 2, 3
• Key concepts for the test


  • context (physical, social, cultural)
  • communicative competence
  • linguistic competence
  • speech community
  • communicative situation
  • communicative event
  • communicative act
  • speaking framework (setting, participants, ends, acts, key, instrumentalities, norms, genre)
  • sender (author, principal, animator, designer)
  • receiver ((un)addressed, (not)ratified, eavesdropper, overhearer, audience)
  • linear, technical approach to comm (encode, decode)
  • interactive views of comm (co-construction, interpretation, feedback)
  • frames, schemas/schemata, scripts
  • social semiotic approach (multimodal, dialogic, prompt)
  • semiotics
  • langue, parole
  • sign (verbal, non-verbal)
  • signifier, signified
  • referent
  • arbitrary
  • onomatopoeia
  • differential
  • denotation, connotation
  • synonyms
  • code
  • icon, index, symbol (iconic, indexical, symbolic)
  • mode, medium, material, affordance
• Reading for lecture 12 is textbook pages 463-470 (1st Edition) or 483-490 (2nd edition)
• Multimodality


  All communication uses a range of modes
• Mode


  Different "semiotic resources used for making meaning
• Modes


  • Verbal modes: writing, speech
  • Non-verbal modes: image, gesture, gaze, posture, sound, colour, objects/artifacts
• Affordances


  Meaning-making potential of modes