Semiotics
Semiotics, or the study of signs, includes a host of theories about how signs come to represent objects, ideas, states, situations, feelings, and conditions outside of themselves. The study of signs not only provides a way of looking at communication but also has a powerful impact on almost all perspectives now employed in communication theory (Littlejohn & Foss).
The basic concept unifying this tradition is the sign, defined as a stimulus designating or indicating some other condition—as when smoke indicates the presence of fire. A second basic concept is symbol, which usually designates a complex sign with many meanings, including highly personal ones. Some scholars make a strong differentiation between signs and symbols—signs have a clear referent to something in reality, while symbols are arbitrary (Littlejohn & Foss).
Signs
A “sign” is defined by a sensory feature that correlates with and points to something of interest. All animals exploit various kinds of signs in their interaction with the world. The more intelligent animals are better at learning and exploiting more sophisticated signs, thus a cat will use and learn many more signs than a frog, a fish or an ant (Port, R.).
For example, dark clouds in the west are a sign of impending rain, a limping gait is a sign that an animal is physically impaired, a scowling facial expression is a sign of the person’s displeasure or concern (to a human), sensing a pheromone in the air is a sign for some insects that a sexually receptive conspecific (member of its own species) is either nearby or upwind, a particular alarm call in certain monkeys is a sign that the animal has either directly sensed (eg, seen, smelled, heard) a particular type of predator or has heard a conspecific give this alarm call. Likewise, particular pronunciation of a word is a sign that someone comes from a particular geographic place or social group.
But some signs can be artificial and manmade, like a beep from your oven can signal that the cookies are ready to be removed, or a red stoplight is a sign that you should stop your car if you don’t want to risk an accident.
Symbols
Symbols are best understood as signs that have deeper and more complex meaning; they are signs that stand for something else (Port, R.). Where signs translate directly to objects or ideas, symbols have something of a life of their own.
The Christian cross or the Star of David, for example, do not have a direct translation. Rather, they carry symbolic meaning that can differ in different contexts. Worn on a chain around the neck, the cross might be a symbol that a person is Christian. To the person wearing it, however, the cross might be a reminder of personal faith or a means of identifying with a particular sect. This deeper meaning distinguishes the cross as a symbol instead of a sign. There are symbols for elements in chemistry, which are derived by abbreviating their names such as O standing for Oxygen. In a similar manner, there are hundreds of symbols in all parts of the world that stand for something else and readily recognizable.
One big difference between a sign and a symbol is that signs literally have a language of their own; a toilet is meant for ladies by a sign over the door of the place. A rainbow stands as a symbol of good luck while a thunderstorm on a rainy day has come to reflect a bad omen.
References
Definitions of Semiotic Terms. (n.d.). Retrieved January 25, 2016, from http://www.uvm.edu/~tstreete/semiotics_and_ads/terminology.html
Littlejohn, S. W., Foss, K. (2002). Theories of human communication. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Pub.
Port, R. (2005, January 25). Symbols and Signs: Langer, Deacon and Peirce. Retrieved January 22, 2016, from http://www.cs.indiana.edu/~port/teach/205/symbol-sign.html
Hayden Coombs 