2. The meaning of signs is created by people
and does not exist separately from them and the
life of their social/cultural community. Therefore,
signs have different meanings in different social and cultural
contexts—meanings that can range from very different
(for example, different languages) to subtle and
nuanced (for example, spoken English in U.S. versus
spoken English in India). This principle has profound
implications for professional communicators who must
write for international audiences. The growing number
of books and articles on this subject attests to the difficulties
writers face when trying to create messages for
people whose semiotic systems are different from
theirs.
3. Semiotic systems provide people with a variety
of resources for making meaning. Therefore, when
they make a choice to use one sign, they are not using
another. As Lemke adds,
These are the contexts of “what might have
been”. . . . In the same sentence, what other words
could have been used? At the same point in the
game, what other plays might have been made? For
the same detail in the painting, what other colors
could have been used? (1990, p. 188)
The ability to choose gives communicators a certain
amount of power to use signs in unconventional ways and,
therefore, affect and even alter meanings.