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semiology

semiology

9.9
The study of signs and symbols, like words or pictures, and how they create meaning in language and communication
  • noun
  • /ˌsɛmɪˈɑːlədʒi/
  • Specialized
translation icon : semiótica
  • In their seminar, they explored the role of semiology in shaping cultural narratives.
  • Platonic semiology
  • anti-Platonic semiology

Examples

  • The study of semiology helps us interpret the meanings behind different symbols.

  • Peirce introduced his logic of vagueness in terms of a doctrine of signs that differs significantly from the semiology developed by de Saussure and adopted by most continental postmoderns.

    Academic text (1993)
  • That is why it is correct to consider liturgical science as a branch of semiology, the general science of signs...

    Academic text (2004)
  • There is no way for him to successfully read a text of the new, anti-Platonic semiology.

    Academic text (1996)
  • Great visuals and interesting semiology are for nothing when absolutely nobody does anything rational.

    Blog text (10)
  • Courtois's own semiology is therefore inconsistent.

    Academic text (1996)
  • Brown is particularly interested in Barthes's critical encounters with semiology, psychoanalysis, political critique, narratology, and allied disciplines.

    Academic text (1993)
  • Such an attitude towards poetry and jongleurs must be understood in the context of what Robert Sturges has called the "two competing semiologies of the Middle Ages."

    Academic text (1996)
  • For language always demands a choice, an identification of gender, of person, of desire for one or the other of two opposed values—the oppositions structural linguistics terms binaries, and semiology calls "paradigms."

    Academic text (2005)
  • Understanding semiology is crucial for analyzing how signs function in communication.

Synonyms

semiotics
vssemiology
  • Specialized
4 9.6

The study of signs, like words or pictures, and how people use them to send messages

emphasizes language and general communication rather than system structure
symbology
vssemiology
4 9.5

The study or use of symbols that show ideas

highlights interpretation and theoretical study of signs within language communication

Surface Forms

semiology singular
semiologies plural

Morphology

semiology = semio + ology

The word uses classical combining forms meaning roughly 'sign' and 'study', but these are not transparent productive English parts for most learners.

Etymology

The word semiology comes from the Greek word semeion meaning 'sign' and the ending -logy meaning 'study', the same ending you see in biology. So, semiology is the study of signs and symbols and how they make meaning.