2.4.1. Semantics
According to Morris, this branch of semiotics examines
the relation of signs to the objects to which the signs are applicable.
In other words, semantics studies the relationship between the sign and its object and investigates the meaning of signs.
One and the same object in the real world can be represented by signs with the same meaning but belonging to different semiotic systems.
Within the same sign system (for example, the linguistic system), a single object can correspond to more than one sign (synonymy), or signs for different objects can overlap (homonymy):
- “BLOCK” (for drawing) / “BLOCK” (for living) / “BLOCK” (for agriculture) – homonymy
- “HORSE” / “STALLION” – synonymy
2.4.2. Syntactics
According to Morris, this branch of semiotics examines “the formal relation of signs to one another”.
Syntactics deals with the combinations of signs without regard to their specific meaning or their relationship to behavior in which they occur.
Syntactics studies the relationship of a sign to other signs within a system with a focus on their combination, connection, and spatial arrangement.
Linguistic signs are typically arranged in a linear plane (horizontally or vertically; left or right). However, Egyptian hieroglyphic writing could be depicted both left-to-right or right-to-left, as well as horizontally or vertically.
Signs from other sign systems may be spatially arranged in three dimensions, mainly depending on the specificity of the sign carrier. For example:
- Textile signs are arranged horizontally or vertically in pairs, depending on the thickness of the ribbon.
- Traffic signs are arranged vertically and on the right side in the direction of travel, and horizontally above the lanes on highways.
- Musical notes are arranged linearly on a staff.
- Astrological signs are arranged in a circle according to specific degrees.
2.4.3. Pragmatics
According to Morris, pragmatics “examines the relation of signs to interpreters”.
Pragmatics is that branch of semiotics that deals with the origin, use, and effects of signs in behavior in which they occur.
Pragmatics studies the relationship between the “users” (addresser and addressee, called interpreters) of sign systems.
From the addresser’s (producer’s) side, it examines the potential of signs for signification through denotation, connotation, and implication, while from the addressee’s (recipient’s) side, it examines the respective impact (informational, emotional, aesthetic, etc.) of the sign. As its name suggests, pragmatics is focused on the practical dimensions of semiosis in its contextual determination.
Peirce repeatedly emphasizes that “a sign does not function as a sign unless it is understood as a sign”, and that “nothing is a sign unless it is interpreted as a sign”. The interpreter as the fourth factor in semiosis, as mentioned earlier, was introduced by Morris: “Something is a sign only because it can be interpreted as a sign for something by some interpreter”.
Umberto Eco believes that
a sign is not something that replaces something else. It is also something that can and must be interpreted.
The three main branches of semiotics, as defined by Charles Morris, correspond to the three dimensions of semiosis in the “semiotic world.”
