wi:k θri: : semɪ'ɒtɪks rɪ'vɪsɪtɪd*- You don’t wear clothes but clothes wear you.

Question 2: What does "coded" meaning mean?

To those unfamiliar with IPA symbols, the title of this entry may seem like it is from a distant language. However, if you flip through the dictionary, you will find that the symbols I have used above has been there ever since. IPA symbols are used to represent phonemic sounds - how one unit of a word sounds. For example, the 'a' sound in 'bat' is represented with the symbol; /æ/.My choice to use IPA symbols for the title may seem irrelevant, but I thought it would be interesting to use them as one of the prominent figures in semiotics is a linguist, Ferdinand de Sausseure, who introduced the concept of language being arbitrary (Leong Ping, Deterding & Low, 2006, p. 59). Sauesseure had referred to words as 'signs', and semiotics is that - interpreting meanings from signs (Griffin, 2009, p.323). From one aspect, semiotics is like an academic venture into the world of metaphors.

In order to establish the meaning of a 'code' in semiotics, one would have to know that signs are divided into two components; the "signifier", the literal 'form' of the sign, and the "signified", the idea or the concept that is being represented by the sign (Chandler, 1994). When these two concepts are established, that is where "codes" come in. According to Leeds-Hurwitz (1993, p. 51), a set of signs is referred to 'codes; – the referred “set” being a combination of a signifier and the signified. In other words, what links a signifier to a signified are 'codes'. According to Irvine (2004), codes are defined as a “framework, a learned a shared conceptual connection at work in all uses of signs (language, visual)”.

With the basic concepts of semiotics structured in the above paragraph, "coded meanings" can therefore be understood to refer to signs which draws on codes understood and agreed on by the community. When an object has a coded meaning, it simply means that the object can have no relation to what it literally looks like, but can be interpreted as something else because of the meanings attached to it, as defined by the community. Exemplifying the above explanation could create a better understanding of "coded" meanings. For instance, without having to venture outside the virtual realm, internet slang;

"BRB" in the above picture is an example of a "coded" meaning. If the meaning was not encoded to have a specific meaning, it can be interpreted as a sound or perhaps and acronym for 'Bunny Rubs Belly' and other interpretations. However, the acronym "BRB" is established by the internet community to mean "Be Right Back", thus making it a "coded" meaning. When someone says "BRB" in an online chat, it is understood by the receiver that the message being conveyed is "be right back".

• 'B', 'R' & 'B' = signs

• 'be right back' = signified

References:

Chandler, D. (1994) Semiotics for beginners. Retrieved from http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/S4B/sem02.html on 16th August, 2012.

Griffin, E. (2009). A first look at communication theory (7th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw Hill.

Irvine, M. (2004). Media theory and semiotics: Key terms and concepts. Retrieved from http://www9.georgetown.edu/faculty/irvinem/theory/Theory-KeyTerms.html on 16th August, 2012.

Leeds-Hurwitz, W. (1993). Semiotics and communication: Signs, codes, cultures. New Jersey, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc.

Leong Ping, A., Deterding, D., & Low, E. L. (2006). An introduction to linguistis. Singapore: McGraw Hill.