Words and Signs

​This is not a pipe.

What is a

word?

What is a

sign?

Write down your thoughts in response to the questions below.

Signs

Signified

Signifier

a 'signifier' – the
form which the sign
takes

the 'signified' – the
concept the signifier
represents.

Signs

“Tree”

This is not a pipe.

Consider

1.Write down a “signifier” that
could have multiple
“signifieds”

2.

Write down a “signified” that
could have multiple “signifiers”

Types of Signs

Iconic Signs

Indexical Signs

Symbolic Signs

- Meaning is based on
similarity of appearance
[a drawing of a tree]

- Signifier is directly
connected (physically or
causally) to the signified
[thunder, smoke, a rash,
ringing phone, a photograph]

- An arbitrary and
conventional sign where
signifier does not resemble
the signified [The word “tree”
or language, letters, words,
numbers, traffic lights, flags]

01

02

03

Simulacra

SIMULACRUM (simulacra): Something that replaces
reality with its representation.

Jean Baudrillard in "The Precession of Simulacra" defines this term as follows: "Simulation is no longer that of a territory, a referential being, or a substance. It is the generation by models of a real without origin or reality: a hyperreal.... It is no longer a question of imitation, nor duplication, nor even parody. It is a question of substituting the signs of the real for the real" (1-2).

Hyperreality

● The inability to distinguish reality
from the signifier of it.

○ More prominent in technologically advanced societies

● A condition in which what is real and
what is fiction are seamlessly blended together so that there is no clear distinction between where one ends and the other begins.

In this scene from The Office, Michael is a victim of hyperreality because he treats the signifier of the GPS as more real than the actual (un)signified lake in front of him.

​Hyperreality