Social Semiotics

 What is social semiotics?

Social semiotics is a branch of semiotics that focuses on human social interaction and culture. According to the book, Social Semiotics by Jeff Bezemer and Carey Jewitt, "It studies the media of dissemination and the modes of communication that people use and develop to represent their understanding of the world and to shape power relations with others" (Bezemer, J & Jewitt, C). The term was coined in 1978 by Michael Halliday in his book Language as a Social Semiotic. Social semiotics is important because it allows us to interpret language and meaning (Zoylan, S).

Visuals are a semiotic form of communication. Visuals can be interpreted using some rules based on the placement of text or images, or information of visual data. The left side contains information that is familiar and accepted by the viewer. The right side contains new information and is a point of focus. Things at the top are considered essential or ideal while information at the bottom is considered specific and practical. Finally, the center in the nucleus of information, while the margins are for unrelated or less important information (Stoian, Claudia). 

This Mcdonalds ad can be analyzed using social semiotics. We can see that in the center of the image is the main focus, the Mcdonalds logo, and the tagline. At the bottom, we can see the practical information that this ad needs to include but it's not the main focus.

Examining this image, we can see that the right side is a point of focus and draws the viewer's attention. We can also see the margins are faded because the information is less important to bring more attention to the information in the central nucleus.

References

Bezemer, J & Jewitt, C. (2009). Social Semiotics. 10.1075/hop.13.soc5. 

Stoian, Claudia. (2015). Analysing Images: A Social Semiotic Perspective. Buletinul Ştiinţific            al Universităţii „Politehnica” din Timişoara, Seria Limbi moderne. 14. 

Green, J. M. (2017). Communicating online. United States: Mcgraw Hill Education Create.

Zoylan, S. (2020). View of General sociolinguistics, social semiotics and semiotics of culture – ex pluribus unum? Forty years after Language as Social Semiotic. Retrieved December 7, 2020, from Utlib.ee website: http://ojs.utlib.ee/index.php/sss/article/view/SSS.2019.47.3-4.03/11334

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the media of dissemination and the modes of communication that people use and

develop to represent their understanding of the world and to shape power relations

with others.

the media of dissemination and the modes of communication that people use and

develop to represent their understanding of the world and to shape power relations

with others.