Barthes' Theory of Denotative and Connotative Signs Semiotic Analysis Table 1

This lesson's objective is to give students a fundamental overview and comprehension of semiotic theory. The study of signs and symbols and how they are interpreted is known as semiotics. Since signs are polysemic, they can have many meanings. The semiotic theory of Roland Barthes analyzed the process of reading signs and concentrated on how other cultures or civilizations interpret them. According to Barthes, every sign contains either a connotative sign system or a denotative sign system. A denotative sign has a literal meaning. A sign that has obtained multiple meanings depending on the context of the image is said to be connotative. For example, a flower would be the denotative symbol for a rose. One way a rose can associated with a connotative meaning is love and desire. Often times, roses are given to show admiration to a person.

The objective of the activity was to recognize and define three signs of my choice. I worked on this activity alone. The first thing I did after I chose my signs was sketch them out. After this I established the difference between denotative meanings and connotative meanings to research different examples for each sign. From this lesson, I learned how to apply the semiotic theory to everyday life. Both audio and visual information can be taken from using the semiotic theory. We can use the semiotic theory to decode information we receive in every aspect of our lives.