Different Culture - Different sign perception

Thana Al Zoghaiby Semiotics 1 Uninirsita Della Svizzera Italiana Winter seminar ; 2003 - 2004

Different culture Different sign perception Thanà Al Zoghaiby Theme

[object Object],Thesis Anthropologists Kevin Avruch and Peter Black explain the importance of culture this way: One's own culture provides the "lens" through which we view the world ; the "logic" ... by which we order it; the " grammar " ... by which it makes sense. In other words, culture is central to what we see, how we make sense of what we see, and how we express ourselves

Introduction ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]

The framework ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],can be summarised into the following three fields of study

Semiotics-Arbitrariness of sign ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]

Saussure saw language as being an ordered system of signs whose meanings are arrived at arbitrarily ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],As long as there is general agreement, that's no problem until you start talking about 'squerdlishes' to people who don't share the same convention. by a cultural convention

Types of signs and meaning ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]

CONNOTATION AND DENOTATION ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],LEVELS OF MEANING

Denotation ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],Common sense, suggests Barthes, is deeply ideological.

Connotation refers to the "second order" of signification. Hall (cited in Chandler: WWW) sees this as the associative meaning, since it describes the interaction that occurs when a sign meets the feelings or emotions of the users and the value of their culture. ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],Connotation

Signs ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],generate meaning individually and as a structured whole in a specific context. As indicated, there are different types of signs that, as a result, can create different types of messages in the communication process. Roman Jakobson

[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],CODES AND SYSTEMS INTO WHICH SIGNS ARE ORGANISED Semioticians organise signs into systems .

Culture ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],is a concept that is broad – it includes aspects of everyday life to cognitive and social structures - and complex. For this reason it is linked to the concept of socialisation . In this broad sense, culture then refers to communities which have different attitudes towards political and social issues, different cultural practices and references in their private lives, different social background, etc.

Semiotics and culture ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],Saussure freely admits that when he is stressing the arbitrariness of the sign, he is stressing something which is actually fairly obvious. As he sees it, though, the problem is that people haven't paid enough attention to the implications of the fact that sign-systems are arbitrary.

In other words ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],you might reasonably expect that the ideologies prevalent in those cultures will have been incorporated into the codes used

Culture Codes ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],Learning these codes involves adopting the values, assumptions and 'world-views' which are built into them without normally being aware of their intervention in the construction of reality .

Sociologists generally ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],prefer the term 'reader' to 'receiver' (even of a painting, photograph or film) and often use the term 'text' to 'message'. This implies that receiving a message (i.e. 'reading a text') is an active process of decoding and that that process is socially and culturally conditioned

Conclusion ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],cultural values sometimes conflict. We can misunderstand each other, and react in ways that can hinder what are otherwise promising partnerships.

Anthropologists Avruch and Black have noted ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],when faced by an interaction that we do not understand “again because of differences in cultural identities” , people tend to interpret the others involved as "abnormal," "weird," or "wrong."

Last but not least ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],people from different cultures should not assume that breakdowns in communication occur because of “the others” are on the wrong track. But it is because of different cultural values and the fact that “ codes and culture are inter-relate dynamically.

Becoming more aware of our cultural differences, as well as exploring our similarities, can help us communicate with each other more effectively. Recognizing where “cultural differences are” is the first step toward understanding and respecting each other.

Different Culture - Different sign perception

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