Editing Semiotics (section)

== Formulations and subfields ==
[[File:Kstovo-BusStation-Sinks-1444.JPG|thumb|[[Color code|Color-coding]] hot- and cold-water faucets (taps) is common in many cultures but, as this example shows, the coding may be rendered meaningless because of context. The two faucets (taps) probably were sold as a coded set, but the code is unusable (and ignored), as there is a single water supply.]]
Semioticians classify signs or sign systems in relation to the way they are [[modality (semiotics)|transmitted]]. This process of carrying meaning depends on the use of [[code (semiotics)|codes]] that may be the individual sounds or letters that humans use to form words, the body movements they make to show attitude or emotion, or even something as general as the clothes they wear. To [[neologism|coin]] a word to refer to a ''[[lexical (semiotics)|thing]]'', the [[community]] must agree on a simple meaning (a [[denotation (semiotics)|denotative]] meaning) within their language, but that word can transmit that meaning only within the language's [[syntax|grammatical structures]] and [[semantics|codes]]. Codes also represent the [[value (semiotics)|values]] of the [[culture]], and are able to add new shades of [[connotation (semiotics)|connotation]] to every aspect of life.{{cn|date=February 2025}}

To explain the relationship between semiotics and [[communication studies]], [[communication]] is defined as the process of transferring data and-or meaning from a source to a receiver. Hence, communication theorists construct models based on codes, media, and [[context (language use)|contexts]] to explain the [[biology]], [[psychology]], and [[mechanics]] involved. Both disciplines recognize that the technical process cannot be separated from the fact that the receiver must [[decode (semiotics)|decode]] the data, i.e., be able to distinguish the data as [[Salience (semiotics)|salient]], and make meaning out of it. This implies that there is a necessary overlap between semiotics and communication. Indeed, many of the concepts are shared, although in each field the emphasis is different. In ''Messages and Meanings: An Introduction to Semiotics'', [[Marcel Danesi]] (1994) suggested that semioticians' priorities were to study [[Sign (semiotics)|signification]] first, and communication second. A more extreme view is offered by [[Jean-Jacques Nattiez]] who, as a [[musicology|musicologist]], considered the theoretical study of communication irrelevant to his application of semiotics.<ref name=Nattiez>{{cite book |author-link=Jean-Jacques Nattiez |author-last=Nattiez |author-first=Jean-Jacques |year=1990 |title=Music and Discourse: Toward a Semiology of Music |translator-link=Carolyn Abbate |translator=Carolyn Abbate |location=Princeton |publisher=Princeton University Press}}</ref>{{rp|16}}

=== Syntactics<!--'Syntactics' redirects here--> ===
{{anchor|Syntactics|syntactics}}
Semiotics differs from [[linguistics]] in that it generalizes the definition of a sign to encompass signs in any medium or sensory modality. Thus it broadens the range of sign systems and sign relations, and extends the definition of language in what amounts to its widest analogical or metaphorical sense. The branch of semiotics that deals with such formal relations between signs or expressions in abstraction from their signification and their interpreters,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/syntactics |title=Definition of Syntactics by Merriam-Webster|publisher=Merriam-Webster Inc. |access-date=May 29, 2019}}</ref> or—more generally—with formal properties of symbol systems<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/syntactics |title=Syntactics definition and meaning|publisher=HarperCollins Publishers |access-date=May 29, 2019}}</ref> (specifically, with reference to linguistic signs, [[syntax]])<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.lexico.com/definition/Syntactics |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200807022533/https://www.lexico.com/definition/syntactics |url-status=dead |archive-date=August 7, 2020 |title=Syntactics |dictionary=[[Lexico]] UK English Dictionary |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]}}</ref> is referred to as '''syntactics'''<!--boldface per WP:R#PLA-->.

Peirce's definition of the term ''semiotic'' as the study of necessary features of signs also has the effect of distinguishing the discipline from linguistics as the study of contingent features that the world's languages happen to have acquired in the course of their evolutions. From a subjective standpoint, perhaps more difficult is the distinction between semiotics and the [[philosophy of language]]. In a sense, the difference lies between separate traditions rather than subjects. Different authors have called themselves "philosopher of language" or "semiotician." This difference does ''not'' match the separation between [[analytic philosophy|analytic]] and [[continental philosophy]]. On a closer look, there may be found some differences regarding subjects. Philosophy of language pays more attention to [[natural language]]s or to languages in general, while semiotics is deeply concerned with non-linguistic signification. Philosophy of language also bears connections to linguistics, while semiotics might appear closer to some of the [[humanities]] (including [[literary theory]]) and to [[cultural anthropology]].

=== Cognitive semiotics ===
Semiosis or ''semeiosis'' is the process that forms meaning from any organism's apprehension of the world through signs. Scholars who have talked about semiosis in their subtheories of semiotics include [[Charles Sanders Peirce|C.&nbsp;S. Peirce]], [[John Deely]], and [[Umberto Eco]]. Cognitive semiotics is combining methods and theories developed in the disciplines of semiotics and the humanities, with providing new information into human signification and its manifestation in cultural practices. The research on cognitive semiotics brings together semiotics from linguistics, cognitive science, and related disciplines on a common meta-theoretical platform of concepts, methods, and shared data.

[[Cognitive semiotics]] may also be seen as the study of [[meaning-making]] by employing and integrating methods and theories developed in the cognitive sciences. This involves conceptual and textual analysis as well as experimental investigations. Cognitive semiotics initially was developed at the Center for Semiotics at [[Aarhus University]] ([[Denmark]]), with an important connection with the Center of Functionally Integrated Neuroscience (CFIN) at Aarhus Hospital. Amongst the prominent cognitive semioticians are [[Per Aage Brandt]], Svend Østergaard, Peer Bundgård, [[Frederik Stjernfelt]], Mikkel Wallentin, Kristian Tylén, Riccardo Fusaroli, and Jordan Zlatev. Zlatev later in co-operation with Göran Sonesson established CCS (Center for Cognitive Semiotics) at [[Lund University]], Sweden.

=== Finite semiotics<!--'Finite semiotics' redirects here--> ===
'''Finite semiotics'''<!--boldface per WP:R#PLA-->, developed by Cameron Shackell (2018, 2019),<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Shackell|first=Cameron|date=2019-03-05|title=Finite semiotics: Recovery functions, semioformation, and the hyperreal|url=https://eprints.qut.edu.au/101207/1/Finite%20semiotics%20-%20recovery%2C%20semioformation%20and%20hyperreality%20-%20Cameron%20Shackell.docx|journal=[[Semiotica]]|volume=2019|issue=227|pages=211–26|doi=10.1515/sem-2016-0153|s2cid=149185917|issn=0037-1998}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Shackell|first=Cameron|date=2018-04-25|title=Finite cognition and finite semiosis: A new perspective on semiotics for the information age|url=https://eprints.qut.edu.au/84630/1/Finite%20Semiotics%20-%20Cameron%20Shackell.docx|journal=[[Semiotica]]|volume=2018|issue=222|pages=225–40|doi=10.1515/sem-2018-0020|s2cid=149817752|issn=0037-1998}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Shackell|first=Cameron|date=2019-07-26|title=Finite semiotics: Cognitive sets, semiotic vectors, and semiosic oscillation|url=https://eprints.qut.edu.au/115293/1/Finite%20semiotics%20-%20cognitive%20sets%20semiotic%20vectors%20and%20semiosic%20oscillation.docx|journal=[[Semiotica]]|volume=2019|issue=229|pages=211–35|doi=10.1515/sem-2017-0127|s2cid=67111370|issn=1613-3692}}</ref><ref>Shackell, Cameron. 2018. "[https://www.ebooks.ktu.lt/eb/1461/cross-inter-multi-trans-proceedings-of-the-13th-world-congress-of-the-international-association-for-semiotic-studies-iass/ais/ Finite semiotics: A new theoretical basis for the information age] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200125042330/https://www.ebooks.ktu.lt/eb/1461/cross-inter-multi-trans-proceedings-of-the-13th-world-congress-of-the-international-association-for-semiotic-studies-iass/ais/ |date=2020-01-25 }}." ''Cross-Inter-Multi-Trans: Proceedings of the 13th World Congress of the International Association for Semiotic Studies (IASS/AIS)''. [[International Association for Semiotic Studies|IASS Publications & International Semiotics Institute]]. Retrieved 2020-01-25.</ref> aims to unify existing theories of semiotics for application to the post-[[Jean Baudrillard|Baudrillardian]] world of ubiquitous technology. Its central move is to place the finiteness of thought at the root of semiotics and the sign as a secondary but fundamental analytical construct. The theory contends that the levels of reproduction that technology is bringing to human environments demands this reprioritisation if semiotics is to remain relevant in the face of effectively infinite signs. The shift in emphasis allows practical definitions of many core constructs in semiotics which Shackell has applied to areas such as [[Human–computer interaction|human computer interaction]],<ref>Shackell, Cameron, and Laurianne Sitbon. 2018. "Cognitive Externalities and HCI: Towards the Recognition and Protection of Cognitive Rights." Pp. 1–10 in ''Extended Abstracts of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems – CHI '18''. Montreal: [[ACM Press]]. {{doi|10.1145/3170427.3188405}}. {{ISBN|978-1-4503-5621-3}}.</ref> [[creativity]] theory,<ref>Shackell, Cameron, and Peter Bruza. 2019. "[https://cognitivesciencesociety.org/past-conferences/ Introducing Quantitative Cognitive Analysis: Ubiquitous reproduction, Cognitive Diversity and Creativity]." Pp.&nbsp;2783–9 in ''Proceedings of the 41st Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society (CogSci 2019)'', edited by C. Freksa. [[Cognitive Science Society]]. {{ISBN|978-1-5108-9155-5}}.&nbsp;Retrieved 2020-01-25.</ref> and a [[computational semiotics]] method for generating [[semiotic square]]s from digital texts.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Shackell|first1=Cameron|last2=Sitbon|first2=Laurianne|date=2019-09-12|title=Computational opposition analysis using word embeddings: A method for strategising resonant informal argument|journal=Argument & Computation|volume=10|issue=3|pages=301–317|doi=10.3233/AAC-190467|doi-access=free}}</ref>

=== Pictorial semiotics<!--'Pictorial semiotics' redirects here--> ===
'''Pictorial semiotics'''<!--boldface per WP:R#PLA--><ref>{{Cite journal|title=Pictorial Semiotics|url=http://oxfordindex.oup.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100326357|publisher=Oxford University Press, n.d. Web.|website=Oxford Index|access-date=2014-10-31|archive-date=2018-09-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180920124019/http://oxfordindex.oup.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100326357|url-status=dead}}</ref> is intimately connected to art history and theory. It goes beyond them both in at least one fundamental way, however. While [[art history]] has limited its visual analysis to a small number of pictures that qualify as "works of art", pictorial semiotics focuses on the properties of pictures in a general sense, and on how the artistic conventions of images can be interpreted through pictorial codes. Pictorial codes are the way in which viewers of pictorial representations seem automatically to decipher the artistic conventions of images by being unconsciously familiar with them.<ref>{{Cite journal|title=Pictorial Codes|url=http://oxfordindex.oup.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100326343?rskey=TyYRDS&result=6|publisher=Oxford University Press, n.d. Web|website=Oxford Index|access-date=2014-10-31|archive-date=2014-10-31|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141031201421/http://oxfordindex.oup.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100326343?rskey=TyYRDS&result=6|url-status=dead}}</ref>

According to Göran Sonesson, a Swedish semiotician, pictures can be analyzed by three models:  the narrative model, which concentrates on the relationship between pictures and time in a chronological manner as in a comic strip;  the rhetoric model, which compares pictures with different devices as in a metaphor; and  the Laokoon model, which considers the limits and constraints of pictorial expressions by comparing textual mediums that utilize time with visual mediums that utilize space.<ref>{{citation |last1=Sonesson|first1=Göran|date=1988|title=Methods and Models in Pictorial Semiotics|pages=2–98}}</ref>

The break from traditional art history and theory—as well as from other major streams of semiotic analysis—leaves open a wide variety of possibilities for pictorial semiotics. Some influences have been drawn from phenomenological analysis, cognitive psychology, structuralist, and cognitivist linguistics, and visual anthropology and sociology.

=== Globalization ===
Studies have shown that semiotics may be used to make or break a [[brand]]. [[Culture code]]s strongly influence whether a population likes or dislikes a brand's marketing, especially internationally. If the company is unaware of a culture's codes, it runs the risk of failing in its marketing. [[Globalization]] has caused the development of a global consumer culture where products have similar associations, whether positive or negative, across numerous markets.<ref name="Alden">{{cite journal|last1=Alden|first1=Dana L|last2=Steenkamp|first2=Jan-Benedict E. M|last3=Batra|first3=Rajeev|year=1999|title=Brand Positioning Through Advertising in Asia, North America, and Europe: The Role of Global Consumer Culture|journal=Journal of Marketing|volume=63|issue=1|pages=75–87|doi=10.2307/1252002|jstor=1252002}}</ref>

Mistranslations may lead to instances of "[[Engrish]]" or "[[Chinglish]]" terms for unintentionally humorous cross-cultural slogans intended to be understood in English. When [[Translation#Survey translation|translating surveys]], the same symbol may mean different things in the source and target language thus leading to potential errors. For example, the symbol of "x" is used to mark a response in English language surveys but "x" usually means {{Gloss|no}} in the Chinese convention.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Pan |first1=Yuling |url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9780429294914/sociolinguistics-survey-translation-yuling-pan-mandy-sha-hyunjoo-park |title=The Sociolinguistics of Survey Translation |last2=Sha |first2=Mandy |date=2019-07-09 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-429-29491-4 |location=London |pages=72–75 |doi=10.4324/9780429294914 |s2cid=198632812}}</ref> This may be caused by a sign that, in Peirce's terms, mistakenly indexes or symbolizes something in one culture, that it does not in another.<ref>Chandler, Daniel. 2007 [2001]. ''Semiotics: The Basics''. London: [[Routledge]].</ref> In other words, it creates a connotation that is culturally-bound, and that violates some culture code. Theorists who have studied humor (such as [[Schopenhauer]]) suggest that contradiction or incongruity creates absurdity and therefore, humor.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Spotts|first1=Harlan E|last2=Weinberger|first2=Marc G|last3=Parsons|first3=Amy L|year=1997|title=Assessing the Use and Impact of Humor on Advertising Effectiveness: A Contingency Approach|journal=Journal of Advertising|volume=26|issue=3|pages=17|doi=10.1080/00913367.1997.10673526}}</ref> Violating a culture code creates this construct of ridiculousness for the culture that owns the code. Intentional humor also may fail cross-culturally because jokes are not on code for the receiving culture.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Beeman|first1=William O|year=1981|title=Why Do They Laugh? An Interactional Approach to Humor in Traditional Iranian Improvisatory Theater: Performance and Its Effects|journal=The Journal of American Folklore|volume=94|issue=374|pages=506–526|doi=10.2307/540503|jstor=540503}}</ref>

A good example of branding according to cultural code is [[Disney]]'s international [[theme park]] business. Disney fits well with [[Japan]]'s cultural code because the Japanese value "[[Cuteness in Japan|cuteness]]", politeness, and gift-giving as part of their culture code; [[Tokyo Disneyland]] sells the most souvenirs of any Disney theme park. In contrast, [[Disneyland Paris]] failed when it launched as [[Euro Disney S.C.A.|Euro Disney]] because the company did not research the codes underlying European culture. Its storybook retelling of European folktales was taken as [[Elitism|elitist]] and insulting, and the strict appearance standards that it had for employees resulted in discrimination lawsuits in France. Disney souvenirs were perceived as cheap trinkets. The park was a financial failure because its code violated the expectations of European culture in ways that were offensive.<ref name="Brannen">{{cite journal|last1=Brannen|first1=Mary Yoko|year=2004|title=When Mickey Loses Face: Recontextualization, Semantic Fit, and the Semiotics of Foreignness|journal=Academy of Management Review|volume=29|issue=4|pages=593–616|doi=10.5465/amr.2004.14497613|jstor=20159073}}</ref>

However, some researchers have suggested that it is possible to successfully pass a sign perceived as a cultural icon, such as the [[logo]]s for [[Coca-Cola]] or [[McDonald's]], from one culture to another. This may be accomplished if the sign is migrated from a more economically developed to a less developed culture.<ref name="Brannen" /> The intentional association of a product with another culture has been called "foreign consumer culture positioning" (FCCP). Products also may be marketed using global trends or culture codes, for example, saving time in a busy world; but even these may be fine-tuned for specific cultures.<ref name="Alden" />

Research also found that, as airline industry brandings grow and become more international their logos become more symbolic and less iconic. The iconicity and [[Symbolism (arts)|symbolism]] of a sign depends on the cultural convention and are, on that ground, in relation with each other. If the cultural convention has greater influence on the sign, the signs get more symbolic value.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Thurlow|first1=Crispin|last2=Aiello|first2=Giorgia|year=2016|title=National pride, global capital: A social semiotic analysis of transnational visual branding in the airline industry|journal=Visual Communication|volume=6|issue=3|pages=305|doi=10.1177/1470357207081002|s2cid=145395587}}</ref>

=== Semiotics of dreaming ===
{{Only primary sources|section|date=November 2020}}
The flexibility of human semiotics is well demonstrated in dreams. [[Sigmund Freud]]<ref>Freud, Sigmund. 1900 [1899]. ''[[The Interpretation of Dreams]].'' London: [[Hogarth Press|Hogarth]]</ref> spelled out how meaning in dreams rests on a blend of images, [[Affect (psychology)|affects]], sounds, words, and kinesthetic sensations. In his chapter on "The Means of Representation," he showed how the most abstract sorts of meaning and logical relations can be represented by spatial relations. Two images in sequence may indicate "if this, then that" or "despite this, that." Freud thought the dream started with "dream thoughts" which were like logical, verbal sentences. He believed that the dream thought was in the nature of a taboo wish that would awaken the dreamer. In order to safeguard sleep, the midbrain converts and disguises the verbal dream thought into an imagistic form, through processes he called the "dream-work."

===Introversive and extroversive semiosis in music===
Kofi Agawu<ref>Kofi Agawu, ''Playing with Signs. A Semiotic Interpretation of Classic Music'', Princeton University Press, 1991, p. 23.</ref> quotes the distinction made by Roman Jakobson<ref>Roman Jakobson, "Language in Relation to Other Semiotic Systems", ''Selected Writings'' II, ''Word and Language'', The Hague, Mouton, (pp. 697-708) p. 704.</ref> between "introversive semiosis, a language which signifies itself," and extoversive semiosis, the referential component of the semiosis. Jakobson writes that introversive semiosis "is indissolubly linked with the esthetic function of sign systems and dominates not only music but also glossolalic poetry and nonrepresentational painting and sculpture",<ref>Jakobson,"Language in Relation to Other Semiotic Systems", op. cit., pp. 704-705.</ref> but Agawu uses the distinction mainly in music, proposing Schenkerian analysis as a path to introversive semiosis and topic theory as an example of extroversive semiosis. Jean-Jacques Nattiez makes the same distinction: "Roman Jakobson sees in music a semiotic system in which the 'introversive semiosis' – that is, the reference of each sonic element to the other elements to come — predominates over the 'extroversive semiosis' – or the referential link with the exterior world."<ref>Jean-Jacques Nattiez, "The Contribution of Musical Semiotics to the Semiotic Discussion in General", ''A Perfusion of Signs'', Th. A. Sebeok ed., Indiana University Press, 1977, p. 125.</ref>

=== Musical topic theory ===
Semiotics can be directly linked to the ideals of musical topic theory, which traces patterns in musical figures throughout their prevalent context in order to assign some aspect of narrative, affect, or aesthetics to the gesture. Danuta Mirka's ''The Oxford Handbook of Topic Theory'' presents a holistic recognition and overview regarding the subject, offering insight into the development of the theory.<ref>Mirka, Danuta, ed. ''The Oxford handbook of topic theory''. Oxford Handbooks, 2014.</ref> In recognizing the indicative and symbolic elements of a musical line, gesture, or occurrence, one can gain a greater understanding of aspects regarding compositional intent and identity.

Philosopher Charles Pierce discusses the relationship of icons and indexes in relation to signification and semiotics. In doing so, he draws on the elements of various ideas, acts, or styles that can be translated into a different field. Whereas indexes consist of a contextual representation of a symbol, icons directly correlate with the object or gesture that is being referenced.

In his 1980 book ''Classic Music: Expression, Form, and Style,'' Leonard Ratner amends the conversation surrounding musical tropes—or "topics"—in order to create a collection of musical figures that have historically been indicative of a given style.<ref>"Classical Music: Expression, Form, and Style." (1980).</ref> Robert Hatten continues this conversation in ''Beethoven, Markedness, Correlation, and Interpretation'' (1994), in which he states that "richly coded style types which carry certain features linked to affect, class, and social occasion such as church styles, learned styles, and dance styles. In complex forms these topics mingle, providing a basis for musical allusion."<ref>Hatten, Robert S. ''Musical meaning in Beethoven: Markedness, correlation, and interpretation''. Indiana University Press, 2004.</ref>

=== List of subfields <!--'Cybersemiotics' and 'Theatre semiotics' redirect here--> ===
Subfields that have sprouted out of semiotics include, but are not limited to, the following:
* [[Biosemiotics]]: the study of semiotic processes at all levels of biology, or a semiotic study of living systems (e.g., [[Copenhagen–Tartu School]]). Annual meetings ("Gatherings in Biosemiotics") have been held since 2001.
* [[Semiotic anthropology]] and [[anthropological semantics]].
* [[Cognitive semiotics]]: the study of meaning-making by employing and integrating methods and theories developed in the cognitive sciences. This involves conceptual and textual analysis as well as experimental investigations. Cognitive semiotics initially was developed at the Center for Semiotics at [[Aarhus University]] (Denmark), with an important connection with the Center of Functionally Integrated Neuroscience (CFIN) at Aarhus Hospital. Amongst the prominent cognitive semioticians are [[Per Aage Brandt]], Svend Østergaard, Peer Bundgård, Frederik Stjernfelt, Mikkel Wallentin, Kristian Tylén, Riccardo Fusaroli, and Jordan Zlatev. Zlatev later in co-operation with Göran Sonesson established the Center for Cognitive Semiotics (CCS) at [[Lund University]], Sweden.
* [[Comics semiotics]]: the study of the various codes and signs of comics and how they are understood.
* [[Computational semiotics]]: attempts to engineer the process of semiosis, in the study of and design for [[human–computer interaction]] or to mimic aspects of human [[cognition]] through [[artificial intelligence]] and [[knowledge representation]].
* [[Cultural semiotics|Cultural]] and [[Semiotic literary criticism|literary semiotics]]: examines the literary world, the visual media, the mass media, and advertising in the work of writers such as [[Roland Barthes]], [[Marcel Danesi]], and [[Juri Lotman]] (e.g., [[Tartu–Moscow Semiotic School]]).
* [[Cybersemiotics]]: built on two already-generated interdisciplinary approaches: cybernetics and systems theory, including [[information theory]] and science; and Peircean semiotics, including phenomenology and pragmatic aspects of linguistics, attempts to make the two interdisciplinary paradigms—both going beyond mechanistic and pure constructivist ideas—complement each other in a common framework.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Brier|first1=Søren|title=Cybersemiotics: Why Information Is Not Enough!|publisher=University of Toronto Press|year=2008|isbn=978-0-8020-9220-5|location=Toronto}}</ref>
* [[Design semiotics]] or product semiotics: the study of the use of signs in the design of physical products; introduced by [[Martin Krampen]] and in a practitioner-oriented version by [[Rune Monö]] while teaching [[industrial design]] at the Institute of Design, [[Umeå University]], Sweden.
* [[Ethnosemiotics]]: a disciplinary perspective which links semiotics concepts to [[Ethnography|ethnographic methods]].
* [[Semiotics of fashion|Fashion semiotics]]
* [[Film semiotics]]: the study of the various codes and signs of film and how they are understood. Key figures include [[Christian Metz (critic)|Christian Metz]].
* [[#Finite semiotics|Finite semiotics]]: an approach to the semiotics of technology developed by [[Cameron Shackell]]. It is used to both trace the effects of technology on human thought and to develop computational methods for performing semiotic analysis.
* [[Semiology (Gregorian Chant)|Gregorian chant semiology]]: a current avenue of [[palaeography|palaeographical]] research in [[Gregorian chant]], which is revising the [[Solesmes Abbey|Solesmes]] school of interpretation.
* [[Hylosemiotics]]: an approach to semiotics that understands meaning as [[inference]], which is developed through exploratory interaction with the physical world. It expands the concept of communication beyond a human-centered paradigm to include other sentient beings, such as animals, plants, bacteria, fungi, etc.<ref>Storm, Jason Ānanda Josephson. "Hylosemiotics." ''Metamodernsim: The Future of Theory,'' The University of Chicago Press, 2021, p. 149-203.</ref>
* [[Law and semiotics]]: one of the more accomplished publications in this field is the ''International Journal for the Semiotics of Law'', published by [[International Association for the Semiotics of Law]].
* [[Marketing semiotics]] (or commercial semiotics): an application of semiotic methods and semiotic thinking to the analysis and development of advertising and brand communications in cultural context. Key figures include [[Virginia Valentine]], Malcolm Evans, Greg Rowland, Georgios Rossolatos. International annual conferences ([[Semiofest]]) have been held since 2012.
* [[Music semiology]]: the study of signs as they pertain to music on a variety of levels.
* [[Organisational semiotics]]: the study of semiotic processes in organizations (with strong ties to [[computational semiotics]] and human–computer interaction).
* [[#Pictorial semiotics|Pictorial semiotics]]: an application of semiotic methods and semiotic thinking to art history.
* [[Semiotics of music videos]]: semiotics in popular music.
* [[Social semiotics]]: expands the interpretable semiotic landscape to include all cultural codes, such as in [[slang]], fashion, tattoos, and advertising. Key figures include [[Roland Barthes]], [[Michael Halliday]], [[Bob Hodge (linguist)|Bob Hodge]], [[Chris William Martin (sociologist)|Chris William Martin]] and [[Christian Metz (critic)|Christian Metz]].
* [[Structuralism]] and [[post-structuralism]] in the work of [[Jacques Derrida]], [[Michel Foucault]], [[Louis Hjelmslev]], [[Roman Jakobson]], [[Jacques Lacan]], [[Claude Lévi-Strauss]], [[Roland Barthes]], etc. Post-structuralism and semiotics are closely related in their approaches to language, meaning, and interpretation; their relationships, and focuses are on how signs—whether linguistic, visual, or cultural—function to convey meaning, and how those meanings can shift depending on context and interpretation.
* [[Theatre semiotics]]: an application of semiotic methods and semiotic thinking to [[theatre studies]]. Key figures include Keir Elam.<ref>Keir Elam, ''The Semiotics of Theatre and Drama'', Routledge, 2003.</ref>
* [[Urban semiotics]]: the study of meaning in urban form as generated by signs, symbols, and their social connotations.
* [[Visual semiotics]]: analyses visual signs; prominent modern founders to this [[visual rhetoric|branch]] are [[Groupe μ]] and Göran Sonesson.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Sonesson|first=Göran|title=Pictorial concepts. Inquiries into the semiotic heritage and its relevance for the analysis of the visual world|publisher=Lund University Press|year=1989|location=Lund}}</ref>
* [[Semiotics of photography]]: is the observation of symbolism used within photography.
* [[Artificial intelligence semiotics]]: the observation of visual symbols and the symbols' recognition by machine learning systems. The phrase was coined by [[Daniel Hoeg]], founder of [[Semiotics Mobility]], due to Semiotics Mobility's design and learning process for autonomous recognition and perception of symbols by neural networks.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/marijabutkovic/2021/05/28/meet-the-female-founder-and-impact-investor-on-a-mission-to-expand-investment-opportunities-for-bipoc-and-female-venture-capital-managers/|title=Meet The Female Founder And Impact Investor On A Mission To Expand Investment Opportunities For BIPOC And Female Venture Capital Managers|first=Marija|last=Butkovic|website=Forbes|accessdate=7 April 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://semiotics.tech/|title=semiotics.tech|website=semiotics.tech|accessdate=7 April 2023|archive-date=1 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230401193522/http://semiotics.tech/|url-status=dead}}</ref> The phrase refers to machine learning and neural nets application of semiotic methods and semiotic machine learning to the analysis and development of robotics commands and instructions with subsystem communications in autonomous systems context.<ref>{{cite book | chapter-url=https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/713805 | doi=10.1109/ISIC.1998.713805 | chapter=Semiotic oriented autonomous intelligent systems engineering | title=Proceedings of the 1998 IEEE International Symposium on Intelligent Control (ISIC) held jointly with IEEE International Symposium on Computational Intelligence in Robotics and Automation (CIRA) Intelligent Systems and Semiotics (ISAS) (Cat. No.98CH36262) | date=1998 | last1=Goncalves | first1=R. | last2=Gudwin | first2=R. | pages=700–705 | isbn=0-7803-4423-5 }}</ref>
* [[Semiotics of mathematics]]: the study of signs, symbols, sign systems and their structure, meaning and use in mathematics and mathematics education.