The ability to communicate is fundamental for human beings. Being able to express information to others in a way that they can understand it and being able to understand what others may be telling us allows us to maintain contact and coexistence with others. In fact, not only humans, but also many other animals need to be able to establish relationships in which mutual understanding prevails. To do this we use a series of symbolic elements that serve as a representation of what we want to communicate.
In a technical way, we can say that we use signifiers to communicate meanings. What are these two terms? What differences are there between signified and signifier? We are going to talk about it in this article.
In order to establish the existence of differences between meaning and signifier, we first have to determine what each of these concepts is.
Meaning
Regarding the meaning, the concept behind this term is highly known by most people, being a word widely used in our daily lives.
We understand the meaning of something to be the idea that is intended to be expressed through an element. That is, if language is a symbolic element, the meaning would be that which wants to be symbolized or represented by means of a word or symbol In a single word, it is about the concept.
Thus, if we use the word dog, the word in question is nothing more than a symbol through which we arrive at the concept or idea we have of a canid. The meaning is the idea in question, what we refer to when we express something. What is represented.
Although the term signified is common in the language of most people and the concept it refers to is generally clear, the same is not true when we talk about the signifier. And yet, It is the only thing we really perceive through the senses when we communicate
We call a signifier that stimulus or element that we use in order to refer to a specific concept. We would be talking about the physical and sensorially perceptible part: the sign.
It is important to keep in mind that the signifier can appear in very different modalities: it is possible to use language orally to produce signifiers that the listener can perceive through hearing, but we can also generate written words. These two are the main means that we usually think of when talking about signs to communicate, but they are not the only ones. And it is possible to imbue gestures with a differentiated meaning, as occurs for example in sign language.
Drawings or even abstract symbols can also be used as long as they convey an idea that can be understood. Drawing symbols on the skin could even be used to convey meaning through touch.
With this we can see that the possibilities for generating signifiers for a concept or meaning are practically unlimited, and any sensory modality can be used as long as it can be used as a communicative element with its own meaning.
Main differences between meaning and signifier
Having seen a brief definition of each of both concepts, it may be easy to observe the main difference between signifier and signified. However, we must keep in mind that we are actually between two concepts that, although they refer to different aspects, require each other to exist.
Without a signifier we could not refer to something while without meaning the words or elements that make up the signifier would be of no use.
1. Fundamental difference: what is it?
And while the signifier refers to the way of naming or referring to a certain something, the meaning refers to the concept, object or entity that we intend to refer to with the signifier.
2. Different nature
Another difference that can be commented on regarding meaning and signifier is their nature: meaning is a construct, an idea that represents a reality but that in itself does not have any physical component although the concept does refer to it. On the other hand, the signifier is purely physical, being the expressed representation of said concept. through a symbolic element such as the word
3. Significant-meaning proportionality
The relationship between signifier and signified tends to be unequal: although the same signifier can refer to different concepts depending on the situation, the intentionality or the context in which it occurs, as a general rule we observe that the most frequent thing is that the same signifier meaning has multiple signifiers that refer to it. We would be talking about polysemy in the first case and synonymy in the second
4. Temporal variability
Another possible difference, which we have mentioned in the previous explanation, has to do with its relative temporal invariance.
And the meaning behind a signifier, as a general rule and due to the fact that it is an idea, tends to remain relatively stable (although there may be changes depending on one’s understanding of the concept itself) over time.
However, language evolves and flows at great speed, different ways of expressing the same thing being born and dying. In this way, the signifiers that refer to a meaning tend to vary as the way of expression evolves, being much more unstable.
5. Transculturality
In addition to the above, we can find another difference when it comes to the variations that exist depending on culture or location. So, The same concept will have very different ways of expressing itself in different countries and in different languages Although in this sense great caution must also be taken, because not only can the signifier vary: the same concept can be interpreted in very different ways. For example, love, value, loyalty, family or work can have very different connotations depending on the culture.
Likewise, there may not even be a specific concept in certain cultures, something that makes it impossible to understand words linked to it. This does not mean, however, that it is not possible to generate the understanding of a concept or meaning through signifiers linked to other nearby meanings.
