THE THEORY OF
SEMIOTICS/SEMIOLOGY
IN LITERATURE:
A Study Guide on the Poem,
A LOVER’S WORDS
by Rafael Zulueta da Costa
BACKGROUND OF THE THEORY OF
SEMIOTICS/SEMIOLOGY IN LITERATURE
Semiotics/Semiology is the
theory of sign systems. It comes
from the Greek word “semeion”
which means sign, and is used
to describe a systematic attempt
to understand what signs are
and how they function.
Semiotician
a person who studies or
practices semiotics.
DIFFERENCE OF SEMIOTICS AND SEMIOLOGY.
"The terms semiology and semiotics are
both used to refer to the ‘science of signs,
the only difference between them being
that semiology is preferred by Europeans,
out of deference to Saussure’s coinage of
the term, and semiotics tends to be
preferred by English speakers, out of
deference to the American Peirce."
THE GENERAL
PRECEPTS OF
SEMIOTICS
General Precept
1.
Line/words Evidence of the
General Precept
Semiotics
involves
the Words must be luminous, shining
like the chromatic chorus
study not only of
of some great center –song
what
people
ringingly bright
refer to as 'signs'
But words cannot be luminous , aflame,
in
everyday
unless the lover be himself
speech, but of
a song
anything which
'stands
for'
something else.
It is concerned
with everything
that can be taken
as a sign.
Justification
It
can be seen in the
excerpt that all the
words are underlined
because in semiotics
ALL WORDS CAN BE
TAKEN AS A SIGN.
General Precept
2.
A semiotic analysis of a
literary text deals, instead
of themes and general
meaning, with the way in
which
meaning
is
produced
by
the
structures
of
interdependent signs, by
codes and conventions.
In accordance to the semiotic
triangle, it has:
a signifier (the sounds /
letters),
a
signified (the meaning
related to it), and
a referent (the reality it points
to).
Line/words Evidence of
the General Precept
REFERENT
lover’s words
Chorus
Song
SIGNIFIER
SIGNIFIED
Justification
The signifier of the poem
is Chorus which means most
interesting part of a song. And
it is related to the signified,
SONG, because based on the
definition, chorus is a part of
a song. And lovers words must
be likened to a chorus that
will make him interesting but
he needs to be a song to be
luminous and aflame.
General precept
Line/words evidence of
the general precept
Justification
Icons: words --- chorus
In the poem, the “words” is
likened
to
chromatic
chorus.
Indexes,
which
communicate by logical
connection; and
Indexes: words --chorus --- lover --- song
Symbols, which are purely
conventional
and
whose meanings have
to be learned.
These three words are
logically connected to each
other because the words of
a lover must be a chorus
but the lover must be
greater than the chorus
and that is the song.
Symbols: word
It symbolizes feelings, vows
and promises
In peirce's theory of
semiotics there are three
kinds of signs:
Icons, which communicate
by resemblance;
THE SEMIOTIC FORMULA
Luminous
WORDS
CHORUS
Shining
Great center song
Ringingly bright
LOVER
SONG
=
=
lover must be a song
that is greater than a chorus.
GUIDE
QUESTIONS
THE
1.What words in the literary piece
can be dominantly considered as
signs?
2. Do the three types of signs (icons, indexes,
and symbols) present in the literary text?
3.Do the signs used in the literary piece
appear in a threefold process, which
includes syntax (the study of the
relationships among signs), semantics
(dealing with the relationships between
signs and the objects signified), and
pragmatics (dealing with the relationships
between signs and their interpreter?
4. Is the meaning of the literary
piece produce by the structures
of interdependent signs ?
5.Can the signs be interconnected to
derive on a universal truth?
THE THEORY OF
SEMIOTICS/SEMIOLOGY IN LITERATURE: A Study Guide on
the Poem, A LOVER’S WORDS by Rafael Zulueta da Costa
This
PowerPoint
presentation
was formulated to address the needs of the students as well as
the teachers in studying literary criticism. Furthermore, this
could be a useful guide for the Literary Criticism students for
it serves as an avenue for them to learn the theory of
semiotics as well as to facilitate in analyzing different literary
pieces using this theory. Moreover, this presentation includes a
Philippine Literary poem which will be helpful for the Filipino
Students since there is a shortage of published Philippine
Literary Pieces.
THE THEORY OF
SEMIOTICS/SEMIOLOGY IN LITERATURE: A Study Guide on
the Poem, A LOVER’S WORDS by Rafael Zulueta da Costa
This
PowerPoint
presentation
was created by John Jufel Simpliciano and Neil Patrick Nolasco
with their consultant Professor Jahnese Asuncion.
This presentation is one of the collection of
presentations about the different trends and theories of
Literary Criticism by the BSE Junior students of Mariano
Marcos State University – College of Teacher Education major
in English, taking up Literary Criticism subject.
ABOUT THE WRITERS
JOHN JUFEL VALDEZ SIMPLICIANO is
currently taking up the degree of Bachelor in
Secondary Education with English as his field of
specialization at the Mariano Marcos State
University – College of Teacher education (CTE),
Laoag City. At present, he is the lay-out Editor of the
CTE Bulletin, the official school paper of the college.
ABOUT THE EDITOR / CONSULTANT
Jahnese Domingo-Asuncion is a professor at the
Mariano Marcos State University – College of
Teacher education (CTE), Laoag City. She finished
the degrees of Bachelor in Secondary Education,
major in English and Minor in Social Studies; and
Masters of Arts in Education, major in Language and
Literature at MMSU. She is currently enrolled in
Doctor of Philosophy in Linguistics. She teaches
Language and Literature courses in the collegiate
level. She was also involved in training Korean and
Chinese students in the English Crash Course
Program for foreign students of CTE.
She is
currently the co-adviser of CTE Bulletin and the
Coordinator of Student Activities.
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