Importance of Semiotics

Serena Cuoghi
Title of Professor of Biology

The beginnings of human communication towards the development of a written language go back to the origins of the representation of things by means of images, so that the The first forms of written expression were made up of drawings that shaped the symbols through the meanings given by their creators, information that mostly was lost over time, but not the custom of expressing ideas through the use of symbols and images, therefore, since there is no known correlation between the symbols found and their meanings, the need arose to create an area of ​​knowledge dedicated to the deciphering and interpretation of the symbols that made up the oldest languages, giving rise to semiotics, a specialization that shows us the profound importance for the human mind of using the visual representation of concepts through image.

Each culture is present in a very marked way the symbolic representation that identifies it, therefore, semiotics allows the analysis and understanding of: 1) the relationship between social groups and their environment, through the use of natural elements for their own expression; 2) the importance that societies give to their own ways of organizing themselves with hierarchies and roles; 3) beliefs and customs, as well as gestural and behavioral modes of being transmitted beyond words; and 4) the ways in which the brain is able to contextualize events through sensory interrelationship, making this last point the cornerstone of semiotics for its permanent implementation in the field of neurosciences.

Starting to communicate

From the drawings in the caves, to the daily use of emoticons in each message written on social networks, the use of a recognizable symbology among those who share it allows the lexical simplification of its communication, however, this graphic resource already present in absolutely everything that has been created by humanity, it does not always have an evident and clear message for the brain aware.

The ability that images have to cross the existing threshold between the deepest areas of the mind, have placed them at the upper end of the communication possibilities, but also of the strategies of persuasion and manipulation of the masses with the constant irruption of symbologies destined for specific purposes. specific.

From figure to language

Very possibly this cognitive permeability of the human brain has evolved as a consequence of the immediate response that was required to stay alive before the rapid changes in the environment, and has been sustained through the millennia for its utilitarian use by rendering us capable of interacting through the use of symbols, as people from different cultures and languages ​​were sharing, making themselves understood through the use of symbols and gestures before the development of translations.

Semiotics has allowed the understanding of the historical use of symbols, referents and the relevance that they could have at a given moment for a specific society. For example, what the various ornaments worn on their heads by the ancient Egyptians represented is information that semiotics has managed to recover to understand how said society was organized hierarchically, symbolizing its status and beliefs with the use of its ornaments.

the endless resource

The human need to express quickly and in the most effective way what he thinks, feels and desires, is a condition that finds its most practical satisfaction in the use of representation. symbolic graphics, a strategy so universally accepted that it allows the connection between creator and spectator of the image, sound, texture and form, in an intimate way that surpasses any other barrier, a condition that has allowed the emergence of various forms of art and its expansion to every corner of the planet throughout history, a fact that potentially never ends, but simply remains in the permanent transformation that the symbology in use suggests, as can be seen in the artistic differences between each of the you were human

In addition to its cultural value, semiotics also has an important impact within the world of the economy and global trade, allowing the adaptation of messages and products. towards the generation of increasingly efficient dynamics between producers and consumers, thanks to the knowledge that semiotics provides both on the design of things and on the more efficient advertising to get them to sell, becoming the most modern and obvious example of the use of the knowledge provided by semiotics, network algorithms and how they use the cerebral affinity with the various symbols, to keep people's attention focused on consuming content after other.

References

Chandler, D. (1998). Semiotics for beginners. Publishing Abya Yala.

Echo, U. (2000). Treatise on general semiotics. lumen.

Kristeva, J. (1978). Semiotics (Vol. 25). Editorial fundamentals.

Peirce, C. S. (1974). The science of semiotics. Buenos Aires.