Competence is a network of abilities that enable the performance of a task; performance is realization itself. The distinction was made by linguist Noam Chomsky and is widely accepted by both semioticians and linguists. The difference between competence and...
Semiology Glossary
Conative
A definition, used to denote one of the six main functions of communicative exchange - the function that in such an exchange is oriented to the addressee. The same message can be emotive or conative. For example, if someone says "I'm tired" just to inform about their...
Conclusion
The message in an argument for which evidence is presented. The messages presented as evidence of the conclusion are called prerequisites.
Condensation
Psychoanalytic term for mental processes in which the unconscious focuses or condenses multiple latent meanings into a single manifested element. In condensation, we observe the formation of a new signifier from the merging of other signifiers, which in previous...
Connotation
Connotation is a term meaning the associations (often emotionally charged) that accompany a word, as opposed to its denotation, its exact or strict meaning. In semiotic works, connotation means the secondary or derived meaning, while denotation means the primary or...
Consciousness
Synonymous with awareness is also the ability of an organism to respond to or at least respond to intra- or extra somatic phenomena and objects. According to Charles S. Peirce, "every time we think, we present to our consciousness some feeling, image, concept, or...
Conspicuous Consumption
In The Theory of the Leisure Class (1899) Thorstein Veblen draws attention to the phenomenon of consuming goods and services not as a means of satisfying needs, but as communicating status and well-being. This suggests that semiotics should be used on an equal footing...
Constative
A name given by John L. Austin to messages that are appropriate to ask whether they are true or false (for example, "the cat is on the mat"). Austin was mostly interested in performative utterances (statements that make no sense to ask whether they are true or false,...
Contact
To learn more about the term Contact, please see Channel.
Contemporary
A term often used by philosophers and historians for ideas, it differs from the modern definition. Modern means post-medieval (Middle Ages - a period covering roughly the period from 500 to 1500) and post-modern. The beginning of the modern era is debatable. It is...
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Arbitrariness
The absence of rational coordination or an intrinsic (or natural) basis. Relativity was perceived as one of if not the most important characteristics of the sign. According to Ferdinand de Saussure and his followers, the sign is a relative relationship between the...
Arche-
A prefix separated from a Greek word, meaning two things: source and ruler. Thus it conveys the meaning of the two, that from which everything originates and that through which everything is regulated and governed. Much of postmodern thinking is devoted to testing the...
Archetypes
In the most general sense - an initial type or example, according to which all other things are modeled; In Jungian psychology - a predisposition or idea (like the figure of the sage), rooted in the collective unconscious and open to countless manifestations (from...
Arche-writing
"Arche-writing" (French: archi-écriture) is a term used by French philosopher Jacques Derrida in his attempt to re-orient the relationship between speech and writing. Derrida argued that as far back as Plato, the speech had been always given priority over writing. In...
Architectonic
A term used by Immanuel Kant and adopted by Charles Sanders Peirce, which describes a systematic rather than a random manner in which scientific research should be conducted. It may be suggested that we do not know enough to construct a system of knowledge. But this...
Free Course in Semiology
A completely and truly free course on Semiology (Semiotics). Learn about the meaning of signs, how and why did the field emerged. What is the relationship between the street signs and the signs that we use every day - words.
