This week, we covered on Syntax: The Grammar of Visual Images, Pragmatics: Context and the Changes in Meaning and Semantics: Making Meaning from Chaos.
According to Chris, syntax is structure. In language, "syntax is the way that words relate to each other, without taking into account the world outside; it includes the grammar, and does not consider who said it to whom, where ,when or why." (cutting, 2002, p.1) The problem of the visual and language is that images cannot be considered as language because there is no formal grammar, this is according to traditional linguist. Two claims was made, images don't have alphabets and no formal syntax. The critics that was made by the traditional linguist is that letters of the alphabet are symbols that represent sound when we say it or hear it, this is call phoneme, therefore colors are symbolic and representation of the light that reaches our eyes and feelings that could be felt from the color, coloreme.
In visual syntax there's rules which is studied by cognitive scientist, psychologist and neuro-scientists to find out how people hear, see, smell and feel. It was founded that people don't see thing randomly. People actually follow an unconscious rule that helps us to decide where to begin and end an image. The eyes constantly move and scan the things we look and the eyes never look on every parts of the image, instead only certain parts will catch our attention.
There's a set of common codes that has been agreed upon by others, so that we can understand the language of the visual. However to understand this language the combination of semantics and pragmatics is required. The language of the visual surrounds colors, lines, space and information.
Chris thought the rules of color, the syntatic rules of lines and syntatic rule of composition. The study of semantics involves kinesics, proxemics, etymology and semiotics. Semantics is the study of meanings. According to Cutting (2002, p.1), "is the study of what the words mean by themselves, out of context, as they are in a dictionary." Kinesics is the understanding the meaning of body language. Proxemics is the understanding of the space between bodies which creates different meanings and interpretation of subject and space. Etymology is the history of words and how its meaning changes over time and Semiotics is study of relationship between the structure and meaning of the signs in the text.
The study of semantics is not a singular and independent field like Semantics and Kinesics, Semantics and Proxemics and Semantics and Etymology. Semiotics and Semantics, where semiotics is the study of signs and how its is connected to the social and cultural. "semiotics involves the study of signs and formalises an attempt to establish the meaning of these signs." (Inskip, MacFarlane and Rafferty, 2007, p.693) It is studied in relation to discourse, ideologies and audience and it is also studied in relation to codes and modality. It is also the study of pragmatics. According Levinson (1983), "pragmatics is the systematic study of meaning by virtue of, or dependant on, the use of language."
Signifiers that form a signs is called a Syntax. Semantics is the signifieds and connotation of the sign, but the meaning is decided by pragmatics which is codes, modality, sender, receiver and context. This factors influences and changes the definition of the signifier and signs. Codes is the sets of rules agreed upon by a culture an society. Codes decide the dominant reading of the sign. Modality is the medium that is giving out the information. The author creates the texts definition and his/her intention and encoded message is transmitted. The receiver decodes the message using the available cultural and technological resources. Context is the space and time in which the message is told or said.
Tutorial question:- If all visual communication is subjective, why do we have to study it?
Visual communications is communication via visual image. Where it is focus on the media culture and how it gives information. One of the reason why we have to study it, because its a part of our everyday lives. Another reason is that we have to study the perceptions of others to understand the differences of perception and ideology of societies.
References:-
Cutting, J. (2002). Pragmatics and Discourse: A resource book for students. New York: Routledge.
Inkip, C., MacFarlane, A. & Rafferty, P. (2008). Meaning , Communication, Music: towards a revised communication model. Journal of Documentaion, 64(5), 693.
Levinson, Stephen C. (1983). Pragmatics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
In future blogs, put the question up first and then, as you are writing, answer the question. Avoid answering the question last. Your whole blog entry should be geared towards solving the question.
ReplyDeleteBut I love the use of references and research. Good work here.