Social semiotics
Social semiotics is a branch of the field of semiotics. Lemke
notes that
social semiotics is a synthesis of several modern approaches
to the study of social meaning and social
action. One of them, obviously is semiotics itself: the
study of our social resources for communicating meanings.
. . . Formal semiotics is mainly interested in the
systematic study of the systems of signs themselves. Social
semiotics includes formal semiotics and goes on to ask
how people use signs to construct the life of a community.
(1990, p. 183)
Because every community is different, the signs used
by one community may be different from those used by
another, For example, the color red indicates mourning for
people in Ivory Coast, whereas, in contrast, it represents
procreation and life for people in India.
Social semioticians apply three important principles
when analyzing a semiotic system such as language or
imagery—principles that have significance for professional
communicators.