The Role Of Semiology In Literature

Semiology is a technique for analysing textual or visual material. This method is based on examining signs in a given text. Hence semiology is to read the signs and derive meanings from signs.

There are many different approaches to semiology in literature. Yet semiology is associated with the leading theorist Ferdinand de Saussure. According to de Saussure language is a system of signs and in this system signs have functions based on relations with every and each other. (Saussure, 2006) Every sign embodies a signifier and a signified in this language system which is known by its utilizers. Also language system ensures an order that shows itself in sentences. A sentence is an integration of chosen words and these words generate meanings which

There are two types of relations called syntagmatic and paradigmatic. Syntagmatic one refers to the relation between words in a given structure. For instance syntagmatic relation is the relation between words in a certain sentence. Another relation, paradigmatic refers to the relation between the word and its contrast. It should be emphasized that the existing of the contrast of a word is possible with parole. For instance the relation between the words ‘cat’ and ‘dog’ is a kind of paradigmatic relation.

The last element of semiology of Saussure is time. According to him the language system is particular to the certain time. A word can connote and denote different meanings as time changes. For example the word queer was pejorative thirty years ago. However it refers gender status now. In so much that there is a branch called “Queer Studies” in academic literature. Language, like an organism can change over time it is observable like the difference between Shakespeare’s English and contemporary English.

Roland Barthes’

He perfectly gives an example, Panzani advertisement in his article Rhetoric of the Image. He reads the pasta advertisement as he explains signifiers and signifieds even though there are no linguistic signs. Another crucial term that Barthes contribute to signs of language is myth. Barthes says “Myth is a second-order semiological system. That which is a sign in the first system (namely the associative total of a concept and an image) becomes a mere signifier in the second" (Barthes, 1972, p. 114) He explains myth with an example, a photograph of young, black soldier in French uniform saluting. According to Barthes the picture tells viewers about multi-ethnicity of France and French imperialism. Myths are not arbitrary like signs. They are never discretionary. They generally contain some sort of relationship which propels them. Rather than thoughts of false awareness, myths don 't cover up anything. Rather, myths bend or mutilate specific pictures or signs to convey a specific importance. Myth doesn 't conceal things, it bends them. It estranges the historical backdrop of the