Tuesday 28 June 2011

Index , Symbol , Icon

Based on your understanding, define Pierce's idea about semiotics distinguished between 3 types of signs : Index, Symbol & Icon.

Provide example for each of the sign.

7 comments:

  1. Index can be defined by some of our sensory feature through vision, hearing, smell to indicate what is happening by looking at a thing.

    Example of Index :
    1)When you see a bright blue sky, it is an index of a sunny and good weather day.
    2)when you see a person with a greenish face, it is an index of a person getting sick.

    Symbol is of a unique mark that represent some kind of information.

    Example of Symbol :
    1)When you see a red traffic light, it is a symbol that tell us to stop.
    2)When we see the exclaimation mark, we know it is a symbol to tell us to be careful.

    Icon is the simplest of which it is a pattern that physically represent what it really stands
    for.

    Example of Icon :
    1)A human picture in messenger is a example of an icon.
    2)The picture of a speaker on the computer screen is an icon for the volume/sound control.

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  2. From my understanding, an index is an indication. For example, when we see smoke,
    we will relate it to fire Or when we hear thunder, it's relate to raining.
    A icon is a mode in which the signifier is perceived as resembling or imitating the signified. For example, a portrait, a cartoon, a scale-model, sound effects in radio drama, or imitative gestures.
    Lastly, a symbol carries meaning is a purely arbitrary way. In Brief, Symbol is a representative of a meaning. For example, language in general, alphabetical letters, punctuation marks, numbers, morse code, traffic lights.

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  3. ICON is the simplest since it is a pattern that physically resembles what it `stands for'.
    example :A picture of your face is an icon of you.

    INDEX is defined by some sensory feature, A, (something directly visible, audible, smellable, etc) that correlates with and thus implies or `points to' B, something of interest to an animal.
    example :For a fish in the sea, the direction of greater light is the direction of warmer water.

    SYMBOL is a noun word in a human language.
    example :You and your baby will also freely use the word KITTY when a cat is NOT around (so the correlation between KITTY and the cat is a very weak). [If your dog knows the `word' TAKE-A-WALK, try just discussing taking a walk in earshot of the dog and see what happens! Dogs have no grasp of `Talking about taking-a-walk'. That's because take-a-walk is only an indexical sign for your dog, not a symbol as it is for you and your baby.]

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  4. SYMBOLIC: is content words that get meaning.
    For example the word ‘house’ does not look anything like a house, but has come to signify ‘house’. A red octagon may be a symbol for "STOP". A flag is a symbol of a country. A country can have more than one symbol.

    ICON: represents similarity, a picture in your facebook is an icon of you. A mobile and computer icon button!

    INDEX: Defined by some sensory feature, directly visible, audible, smell able, etc, to associate with something in thinking! for example if someone is walking down a street and suddenly encounters the smell of roast chicken, he or she might find the concept of roast chicken coming to mind.

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  5. INDEX:Is through sight, smell, taste, touch and hearing that You can think of something. for example:When you see a girl crying, you know she was very sad

    SYMBOLIC: is something such as a particular mark that represents some piece of information. For example:Dove symbolizes peace,When we see a sign of no smoking, we know that there can not smoke.

    ICON:Have to refer to the meaning of graphic symbols, icons can quickly convey information to facilitate memory characteristics.For example:Male and female toilet signs, all kinds of traffic signs, etc..

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  6. Index:Index should be the one can tell us something, as an omen, a phenomena of something. For example, When you smell a scorching smell, you know that something is burning and probably already for a long time. Or when you see someone is crying, you know that he or she is sad at that moment.

    Icon: Icon is more concrete, should be concrete thing to represent something. Such as the logo of Apple Inc. and the dustbin on the desktop represented Recyle Bin.

    Symbol: Symbol is very arbitrary, as a person's feeling or opinion of something, such as when a person see one item, what come to his or her mind, for him or her, this item is a symbol of that thing. For example, a red heart is alway a symbol of love and a nickname is a symbol of a person.

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  7. based my research :P 3 modes (index, icon and symbol)are not fixed mutually, sign can be a symbol, an icon can be an index or in any combination.

    index : connected in the some way either physically or causally, also can figure out the relationship eg. Eiffel Tower located at Paris

    icon :physically or perceptually resembles the signified, where can recognize the object immediately eg. Eiffel Tower icon of Paris.

    symbol :does not resemble the signified but must learn the relationship (conventional relationship) eg. Eiffel Tower was a symbol of attraction for tourists to come to Paris, also, can symbolized as romance town.
    With one object, it's can classified into different of mode.

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