Elements of Semiology does not analyze popular culture directly. Rather, Barthes shows his critical interest in mass culture, writing about the value of semiological analyses of mass
cultural products in an era of mass communication. The development of mass communications confers particular relevance today upon the vast field of signifying media, just when the
success of disciplines such as linguistics, information theory, formal logic and structural anthropology provide semantic analysis with new instruments
(Barthes, 1964, p. 9).
With Elements of Semiology, Barthes introduced four classifications of the elements that create the process of semiological analysis. These classifications are borrowed from structural linguistics, and consist of the categories of language and speech, signified and signifier, syntagm and system, and denotation and connotation (Barthes, 1964).
Language and Speech
Barthes (1964) applied the concepts of language, or the part of the semiological system which is agreed upon by society, and speech, or the individual selection of symbols, to semiological systems. The application of these concepts can be applied to the semiological study of the food system. According to Barthes (1964), a person is free to create their own menu, using personal variations in food combinations, and this will become their speech or message. This is done with the overall national, regional, and social structures of the language of food in mind (Barthes, 1964). Barthes (1964) then expanded on Saussure’s terms, by explaining that language is not really socially determined by the masses, but is sometimes determined by a small group of individuals, somewhat changing the relationship of language and speech. Barthes (1964) claims that a semiological system can essentially exist in which there is language, but little or no speech. In this case, Barthes (1964) believes that a third element called matter, which would provide signification, would need to be added to the language/speech system.
Signifier and Signified
For Saussure (1959), the signified was a representation of a concept, while the signifier was used to represent the sound-image of that concept. Barthes (1964) points out that the importance of
both the signified and the signifier is the relationship between them; it is within this relationship that meaning is created. …that the words in the field derive their meaning
only from their opposition to one another (usually in pairs), and that if these oppositions are preserved, the meaning is unambiguous
(Barthes, 1964, p. 38). Out of this relationship, the
sign is created. Saussure (1959) considered the sign to be arbitrary in nature, based primarily on the relationship between the signified and the signifier. Barthes (1964) explained that the
sign can no longer be arbitrary when semiological systems are considered. Instead, Barthes shows that once a sign takes on a function or use, it will gain its own meaning in the process.
…as soon as there is a society, every usage is converted into a sign of itself
(Barthes, 1964, p. 41). The sign can actually lose its arbitrary nature and become motivated
(Barthes, 1964).
Syntagm and System
Barthes (1964) defines the syntagm as a linear combination of signs. Within semantic analyses, this would be something like a sentence, where each term is related to the other terms within the
phrase (Barthes, 1964). The syntagm is compared to the system, which explains associations on the same level, such as how certain words relate to the meaning of other words within our minds, as
in the case of the relations between education
and training
(Barthes, 1964, p. 58). Barthes expands upon these ideas by applying them semiologically to various
systems, including food. With food, the systematic level becomes the various dishes within a particular category (i.e. types of desserts), whereas the syntagmatic level becomes the menu choices
selected for a full meal (Barthes, 1964).
Denotation and Connotation
The terms denotation and connotation were used by Barthes for examining the relationships between systems. Each semiological system can be thought of as consisting of an expression, a plane of content, and a relation between the two (Barthes, 1964). A connotation then examines how one system can act as a signifier of this first relation, specifically how it represents the expression within the first system (Barthes, 1964). These elements were particularly useful for examining relations between systems of symbols, rather than just relations between elements.
Despite the theoretical discussion, Elements of Semiology offers Barthes's own interpretation about the political or existential conditions. He recommends a total
ideological description
(Barthes, 1964, p. 46) of the culture to rediscover the articulations which men impose on reality
(Barthes, 1964, p.57). Semiology will
describe how reality is divided up, given meaning and then 'naturalized' (Barthes, pp. 63-4), as if culture were nature itself.
(Rylance, 1994, p. 38)
- 7660 reads
