Encyclopedia > Semiotics

  Article Content

Semiotics

Semiotics is the study of signs or sign systems. This is applied to any kind of signs, not just words as in semantics. The term was first coined in 1690 by John Locke in An essay concerning human understanding.

Charles Sanders Peirce ((1839 - 1914), founder of the philosophical school of pragmatism, invented semiotics as a discipline. Spelled it semeiotic."

Ferdinand de Saussure (1857 - 1913), the "father" of modern linguistics. Invented, at about the same time as Peirce, a subject he called "semiology."

Charles W. Morris (1901-1979) is known for his Foundations of the Theory of Signs.

Umberto Eco made a wider audience aware of semiotics by various publications, most notably A Theory of Semiotics. Explicitly acknowledges Peirce's importance.

External Links



All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License

 
  Search Encyclopedia

Search over one million articles, find something about almost anything!
 
 
  
  Featured Article
Lake Ronkonkoma, New York

... family size is 3.32. In the town the population is spread out with 24.7% under the age of 18, 7.4% from 18 to 24, 32.6% from 25 to 44, 23.2% from 45 to 64, and 12.2% who ...

 
 
 
This page was created in 39.2 ms