Semiotics for Beginners by Daniel Chandler

Semiotics for Beginners by Daniel Chandler
In the pairing of oppositions or contraries, Term B is defined relationally rather than substantively. The
linguistic marking of signifiers in many of these pairings is referred to as 'privative' - consisting of
suffixes or prefixes signifying lack or absence - e.g. non-, un- or -less. In such cases, Term B is
defined by negation - being everything that Term A is not. For example, when we refer to 'non-verbal
communication', the very label defines such a mode of communication only in negative relation to
'verbal communication'. Indeed, the unmarked term is not merely neutral but implicitly positive in
contrast to the negative connotations of the marked term. For the French psychoanalyst Jacques
Lacan the marked term in the pairing of men/women is negatively defined within 'the symbolic order'
in terms of the absence or lack of a privileged signifier associated with control and power - the phallus
(though see feminist critiques of Lacan's phallocentrism, e.g. Lovell 1983, 44-45). The association of
the marked term with absence and lack is of course problematized by those who have noted the irony
that the dependence of Term A on Term B can be seen as reflecting a lack on the part of the
unmarked term (Fuss 1991, 3).
The unmarked form is typically dominant (e.g. statistically within a text or corpus) and therefore
seems to be 'neutral', 'normal' and 'natural'. It is thus 'transparent' - drawing no attention to its invisibly
privileged status, whilst the deviance of the marked form is salient. Where it is not totally excluded,
the 'marked' form is foregrounded - presented as 'different'; it is 'out of the ordinary' - an extraordinary
deviational 'special case' which is something other than the standard or default form of the unmarked
term (Nöth 1990, 76; Culler 1989, 271). Unmarked/marked may thus be read as norm/deviation. It is
notable that empirical studies have demonstrated that cognitive processing is more difficult with
marked terms than with unmarked terms (Clark & Clark 1977). Marked forms take longer to recognize
and process and more errors are made with these forms.
hig
h
I
N
90%+*
indoor/outdoor
up/down
yes/no
East/West
open/closed
wet/dry
question/answer
true/false
major/minor 80%+*
hot/cold on/off
reader/writer public/private
before/after male/female
love/hate high/low
top/bottom parent/child 70%+*
good/bad internal/external black/white
cause/effect gain/loss mind/body 60%+*