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Decoding, insemiotics, is the process of interpreting amessage sent by an addresser (sender) to an addressee (receiver). The complementary process – creating amessage for transmission to an addressee – is calledencoding.
All communication depends on the use ofcodes. More traditional communication models always include three main elements: a sender, a transmitter, and a receiver (Fawkes 21). The sender is responsible for “encoding” (i.e., selecting information) their message and putting it through a transmitter (i.e., acommunication channel or amedium like a video, radio, text messaging, etc.) (Fawkes 21). When the encoded information, put through the transmitter, gets to the receiver, it is the responsibility of the receiver to “decode” (i.e., interpret the message) and respond accordingly withfeedback (Fawkes 21).[1]
The communication process cannot work without all its three major parts: the sender/encoder, the transmitter/medium, and the receiver/decoder. If there is no sender/encoder, then nobody crafts the beginning message(s) to send out. If there is nomedium/transmitter to put the message through, then the message cannot be delivered to the receiver. If there is no receiver/decoder then a message can’t be decoded and hold any value whatsoever (Eadie and Goret 29). When there is no value to a message the decoder cannot make meaning out of it (Eadie and Goret 29).[2]
When themessage is received, the addressee is not passive, but decoding is more than simply recognizing the content of the message. Over time, eachindividual in theaudience develops acognitive framework of codes that will recall thedenotative meaning and suggest possibleconnotative meanings for each signifier. But the actual meaning for each message iscontext-dependent: the codified relations between the signifiers in the particular context must be interpreted according to thesyntactic,semantic, and social codes so that the most appropriate meaning is attributed.
Away from the communication process itself, decoding has become sosecond nature in the lives of individuals to the point where we do not even realize we are decoding. Whendriving, for example, we are using thecolor of thetraffic lights (an encodednonverbal signal, in this case) as the basis of the encodedmessages which we interpret. A green light is an encoded signal telling us (the receivers/decoders) to go ahead. Here, it is the context-dependent meaning – according to universally agreed-upon social codes ofroad rules – where we appropriately attach meaning to thecolors oftraffic lights. Overall, these encodedmessages, supported bysocial codes and other factors, “function like dictionaries or look-up tables” for individuals in society (Chandler 178).[3]
Although the addresser may have a very clearly defined intention when encoding and wish to manipulate the audience into accepting the preferred meaning, the reality is not that of textualdeterminism.
What is decoded does not follow inevitably from an interpretation of themessage.Roman Jakobson suggests that in the process of sending and receivingmessages, “[d]ecoding involves moving from symbol to referent to experience as the constitution of meaning” (Lanigan 73).[4] Not infrequently, the addressees find different levels of meaning. Addressees, or the receivers, decode according to their cultural signs because it is semiotics that often entails “the decoding of cultural signs” (Tiefenbrun 528).[5] When decoding, the receiver must be the one to find the balance between asignifier and a signified (Tiefenbrun 196).[5] In finding a balance, however, receivers engage in an “analytical quest” that may result in them inferring a completely unintended meaning that the encoder/sender did not intend (Tiefenbrun 195).[5] This could be because of the receiver’s cultural background, previous knowledge, or perhaps another reason.
Umberto Eco called this mismatch between the intended meaning and interpreted meaningaberrant decoding. This apparent failure ofcommunication may result for a variety of reasons, including 1) because the parties may use different codes due to theirsocial class, 2) because the parties have different training or ability due to differentworld views orideologies, or 3) because the parties are from differentcultures. David Morley argues that the outcome of decoding will be influenced bypragmatic issues, i.e. whether:
Further,Umberto Eco suggests a distinction betweenclosed texts which predispose a dominant interpretation and moreopen texts which may have latent meanings or be encoded in a way that encourages the possibility of alternative interpretations.
Signs are known to have some sort of balance in them—known as symmetry (Meagher 185). When there is symmetry in the communication process - symmetry betweenencoding and decoding - it can be placed in the field of “meaningful media signs” (Meagher 185). Within this view, there are two dominant positions that one can take: there is the most symmetrical position (called the dominant hegemonic position) and there is the least symmetrical position (called the oppositional position) (Meagher 185).[6]
In the dominant hegemonic position (the most symmetrical position), “the viewer interprets the media sign according to the samelogic used by encoder-producers” (Meagher 185). For example, if you are a recreational hockey player living inCanada and see acommercial from aCanadian company (the sender/encoder in this situation) for their new line of “ultra flex”hockey sticks, you (the receiver/decoder) will already understand the main benefits of the hockey sticks because you playhockey. In this example, you (the decoder) have something in common with theCanadian company that produced thecommercial (the encoder), which allows you to share the samelogic used by theCanadian company. When the receiver/decoder interprets the sign using the samelogic as the encoder, it can be called a “preferred reading” (Meagher 185).[6]
In the oppositional position (the least symmetrical decoding position), “the viewer recognizes the preferred reading that has been constructed by producers, but rejects it in its totality” (Meagher 185). Back to the example with hockey sticks, let’s say you – a recreational hockey player – understood the main benefits of the commercial for the new line hockey sticks, but reject the idea that it is an “ultra flex” stick because of theprice and the image of the stick. Here, you still share the samelogic as the encoder and still understand the commercial, but you reject it because of its look andprice. This is the oppositional position. Note that most times the oppositional position occurs because the decoder sees themessage as either deceptive or as a misrepresentation of the real world (Meagher 185).[6]
Essentially,Semiotics works to understand how signs can be interpreted in various forms, one of which can be accomplished throughAdvertising. Since advertising works to persuading buyers to purchase goods and services, ads can display variousmessages (Zakia, Nadin 6). Theseadvertisements often contain messages through images and words that helpconsumers interpret these symbols and signs (Zakia, Nadin 6). Therefore, this is howsemiotics applies through advertising in simple terms. The use of semiotics as a method ofadvertising andmarketing can be classified based on how the messages within the advertisements can answer three questions, who is thetarget audience, what is the purpose of theproduct, what is the product (Zakia, Nadin 6).[7]
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For example, when analyzingtobacco advertisements, specificallyMarlboro andVirginia Slims, they target two very differentdemographics (Anderson et al. 256). Marlboro targets a male audience that symbolizes “rugged, masculine, independent, and heroic overtones,” whereas Virginia Slims’starget audience is women that convey “women’s liberation, femininity, and glamour” (Anderson et al. 256). These two examples display and answer who is thetarget audience? Which depends on the demographic. What is the purpose of the product? To sellcigarettes to theirtarget audience, and what is the product? Which is the product of tobacco.[8]
When looking atlaw itself, it is a composite form where there are individual norms that are formed together to create a whole.[9] Texts incorporate the structural features of the signifiers with which they are built, but they are not conceptually identical to their signifiers as a whole.[9]
According to Sebeok and Danesi, a coherent modelling system can be used to describe law.[9]In traditional semiotic theory, a code is a system that provides specific types of signifiers that can be employed in a variety of ways and for a variety of representational goals.[9]
In terms of semiotics, alawyer's attempt to grasp the signs of the code, to explain the law, is called a decoding process, i.e., a method that is supplied to solve problems created by deviations (shifts in meaning) and questions about intents that are buried in the code.[9]
From a semiotic-legal perspective, the legal system is a web of legally significant texts and meanings.[10] To state that the legal system follows a Semiotic Mesh Model is to say that legal documents are connected to one another in some way, whether through syntactic, semantic, or pragmatic exchanges between legal actors.[10] It's critical to stress, as Swiss jurist Pierre Moor emphasises, that the set of texts is always mobilised by the actions of legal players, making the community of legal actors responsible for the legal system's continual activity.[10] Semioticist Bernard Jackson points out that legal language is amedium of communication for a specialised set of people known asjurists.[10]
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