Sign Symbol

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Sign Symbol

A sign system is representation through communication which in turn leads to a shared
meaning or understanding. We hold mental representations that classify and
organise the world (whether fact or fiction), people, objects and events into
meaningful categories so that we can meaningfully comprehend the world. The
media use sign systems through newspapers, magazines, television,internet, and
the radio etc. The conceptual map of meaning and language are the basis of
representation. The conceptual map of meaning, are concepts organised, arranged
and classified into complex relations to one another. The conceptual map of
meaning although allows you to distinguish your own individual interpretation of
the world, at the same time as holding similar views to that of other people in
your culture. As the meaning is produced and constructed and in turn learned by
a particular group of people. Therefore sharing conventions and codes of their
language and culture. Signs can only convey meaning if we possess codes which
allow us to translate our concepts into language. These codes are the result of
social conventions which lead to the shared maps of meaning. These shared
meanings are learnt unconsciously as we become members of a culture.If we have a
concept of something in our minds we can say we know the meaning of this
concept. However we cannot express or communicate this meaning without the
second system of representation, language. Language is the only way in which
meanings can be effectively exchanged between people, as people within the same
culture are able to interpret the sign of language in the same manner. As the
meanings become natural through the conditioning of culture. For example the
word white in Australia represents a colour of purity, however in China it is
the colour of death. Demonstrating that different cultures have not only have
different meanings in their shared conceptual maps, but a different language to
express it. As meanings change rapidly throughout cultures to really understand
another culture you must live there and speak the language for some time.
Cultural, social, political, and linguistic conventions are learned over time.
The three theories of representation, reflective, intentional and
constructionist approaches explain how representations through language work.
The reflective approach is where language functions as a ÔmirrorÕ of the
particular elements perceived meaning. The intentional approach, is where the
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