Nina Barnovi

 

PhD in Philology

The University of Georgia

Associate Professor

Tbilisi, Georgia

https:/orcid.org/0009-0001-2899-8963

nino.barnovi@gmail.com

 

On the Semiotics of Visual Codes
(According to Umberto Eco)
Umberto Eco views any cultural phenomenon as a system of signs, suggesting that they constitute such systems while remaining communication phenomena.  Thus, semiotics respond to the needs of various modern scientific disciplines, which precisely aim to reduce different types of phenomena to the fact of communication. Psychology studies perception as an act of communication, genetics identifies the codes of hereditary information... Communicative models are increasingly used in the study of social life. The collaboration between structural linguistics and information theory has been particularly effective, resulting in such models being applied to the study of different cultures, kinship systems, fashion, cuisine, sign language, spatial organization, and more. Aesthetics also sometimes employs certain elements of communication theory for its purposes. We observe a significant unification of the field of research, which allows for the description of diverse phenomena using the same scientific tools.
It is important to note that when the author speaks of culture, he refers to the definition given by anthropology which states that culture is any natural phenomena that has been altered by human activity and can be assimilated into a social context.  A code, as Umberto Eco reminds us, is considered a system of probabilities (possibilities) that restricts the equal likelihood of the source but also makes it equally likely concerning the sequence of messages generated using it.
This issue represents one of the main problems in the philosophy of language and is formulated in various ways. We will limit ourselves to defining the sender of information as a speaking individual whose speech is determined by relevant biological and cultural factors, thus allowing us to assume that speech, in most cases, will be conditioned by an imposed code.
Thus, the attempt to semiotically interpret visual communication is of certain interest in that it allows semiotics to assert its independence from linguistics. When there are sign phenomena that are less defined than the phenomena of visual communication itself (e.g., painting, sculpture, drawing, visual signaling, cinema, photography...), the semiotics of visual communication can serve as a trampoline for the study of cultural fields such as architecture and design, where visual messages simultaneously serve as objects of use.
Suppose we observe the developments that have led to a deepening interest in semiotics in France and Germany. In that case, we must acknowledge that it is directly linked to the development of mass communications. Furthermore, it should be added that the issues surrounding mass communications that emerged in sociological circles primarily in the United States ultimately demanded a semiological justification of its principles.
If mass communication media include cinema, press, broadcasting, radio, rotaprint weeklies, comics, advertising, various forms of propaganda, light music, and mass literature, then the question that needs to be asked is: does each form of mass communication not represent a specific object of study, and, in general, do these studies on mass communications not involve the application of some discipline's methods to any of these mediums, their techniques, and their effects?  On the other hand, if the study of mass communications has so far been conducted with maximum flexibility using completely different methods, the subject of study has, in all cases, been the same. Therefore, it is equally important to precisely define the methods of studying mass communications. In the study of mass communications, when various materials are integrated, it is desirable and necessary to rely on interdisciplinary connections and also to apply different methods, ranging from psychology to sociology and statistics. However, a consistent and comprehensive study of these phenomena is only possible if the theory and analysis of mass communications constitute one of the most important branches of general semiotics.

Keywords: Communicative models, mass communications, semiotically interpretation, social context.