A Note on Social Semiotics
What is Social Semiotics? Who Discovered it? Why is it Important? Social semiotics is a field of study that examines how people utilize various signs and symbols, including language, images, sounds, and gestures, to create and comprehend meaning within social contexts. It explores how these meanings are shaped by ideology and social interaction across different forms of communication. It was developed by linguist Michael Halliday, who introduced systemic functional linguistics, a theory of language that considers how language is used as a social tool for creating meaning. The idea was further expanded by Gunther Kress, who applied these concepts to visual communication. Crusius (2016) states that, "Like language, visual images are rhetorical. They persuade us in obvious and not-so-obvious ways." Social semiotics is a crucial field of study because it enables us to decode and understand the visual messages that surround us. Images can transcend language and cultural bar...
