Theoretical framework

Initial Remarks
It is no longer possible to escape from the
invasion of technological devices and the variety of
semiotic modes around us. In contemporary society
life is becoming even more surrounded by images,
colors, and textures, which seems to be efficient
means of communication. The world we live in is
full of signs to be interpreted and consumed. We
are part of a mass culture motivated by the
advances in computer technology and powerful
economic relations arising from globalization.
Every day different signs are displayed in
the society conveying a number of values and
beliefs. For this reason, we need to be able to read
both written texts, with a more explicit content, as
well as images, with a more implicit and hidden
message. Visual communication is becoming a
matter of public knowledge, since ever more
children, professionals, non-professionals and lay
people are capable of reading images in the same
way as words, clauses and linguistic structures are
read.
It follows to that the growing interest of
critically analyzing several discourses around us,
which demonstrates that language plays a core role
in the perpetuation of powerful ideologies and
hidden agendas behind many texts displayed in our
society. Meaning can be conveyed from several
texts, such as, media texts, official and

governmental texts, advertising texts, but also from

many social interactions among people found every
day around us. Meaning might be found
everywhere we go, not only in texts we display in
public and private spaces, but also in the way we
plan our cities, the physical structures we build
and how we relate to those conceptual features
posed around us.
Because of the growing importance of
visual elements and the meanings in societies a
number of researchers have been aiming their
investigations in areas related to visual studies,
design, discourse and communication. The
subsequent sections will rely on the main
frameworks I use in order to guide me throughout
my analysis.
Background on Semiotics
Although very prominent in the past few
years, this yelling concern with images and visual
modes is not a recent movement, and it has been
calling scholars attention for a long time in the
last 75 years. The first scholars throwing light on
the studies of semiotics were the linguists from the
Prague School between the years of 1930 and 1940.
The second group of scholars belonged to the Paris
school during the 60s and 70s. The third group of
researchers is the one drawing on the ideas of the
linguist Michael Halliday following the theoretical
framework of Systemic Functional Grammar that
take the view of grammar in terms of how it is

really used focusing on the way people interact

with each other.
The main focus of Hallidays work is on his
systemic-functional view of language, especially in
relation to written modes. Hallidays work can be
considered the basis that influences ideas
developed by the scholars I use here in my work.
Needless to say that Hallidays abundant research
deserves further considerations, however, it
escapes from the scope of this work, which focus on
semiotic resources, and how language take action
in the real social world. What follows is an account
of each of the main tenets of my work.
Visual Design
Extrapolating from the Hallidays
perspective is that Kress & van Leeuwen (1996;
2006) have displayed a grammar of Visual Design
providing us with a multimodal framework that is
at the same time theoretical, descriptive and
practical, a tool to be used when analyzing images,
based especially on Western cultures. The reason
why a Western perspective is chosen is because
traces of the Westerns influence are all over the
world, co-existing with regional and local cultures.
Like written language, images also have
functions and convey ideational, interpersonal and
textual meanings simultaneously.
As Kress & van Leeuwen (2006) point out:
to use Hallidays terms, every
semiotic
fulfills
both
an

ideational function, a function

of representing the world around
and inside us
and an
interpersonal function, a function
of enacting social interactions, as
social relations. All message
entities texts also attempt to
present a coherent world of the
text, what Halliday calls the
textual function a world in
which all the elements of the text
cohere internally, and which itself
coheres
with
its
relevant
environment (p.15).

Although our society is involved in a

variety of semiotic modes, images still seem to be
dependent on written texts, and in an inferior
hierarchical position in comparison with written
modes. For instance, since early schooling years,
children are taught through the use of images on
their books and in the classrooms; however, as
times passes, the use of images tend to disappear
until the point they become specialized. Images
start to be used with the purpose of representing a
particular content, as maps, diagrams, specific
places or as correlated to texts. Even though images
have a central role in our society they are not
properly taught in schools, i.e., putting it in my
own terms, although the ability of reading image is
extremely important today, we still have much to
advance in matters of visual literacy.
The analytical tool proposed by Kress &
van Leeuwen is social-context based, although
individual differences are not entirely disregarded,

which is explained by the fact that in our

contemporary society images are irrevocably valueladen and they play a central role in public spheres,
as in the media, in advertisements, on the internet,
on the streets; thus, we cannot afford to leave a
studiously visual-concerned framework aside; on
the contrary, we should become even more literate
in matters of visual designs and semiotic modes.
Written language has always been highly
valued in our society. It is common knowledge the
importance that is given to printed documents,
agreements, contracts, statutes, and prescriptions,
and other documents of all sorts as trustable
medium in our society. Still based on that
perspective, it is hard for some to understand that
visual modes can be such a reliable tool to
reproduce meaning and convey values implicitly or
explicitly. Weather we are able or not to understand
this new semiotic order is what will lead us to a
more effectively and actively role in the world.
The perspective I rely here follows the work
of Michael Halliday, as previously mentioned, in
which he posits the notion of the three
metafunctions: ideational, interpersonal and textual
that gives the individual an array of choices in
order to produce meaning in different semiotic
modes.
When referring to the Ideational
metafunction in the Grammar of Visual Design the
terminology used is the Representational meaning;
the Interpersonal metafunction becomes Interactive

meaning and the Textual metafunction becomes the

Compositional meaning.
The Representation meaning is divided into
Narrative and Conceptual. Narrative means that the
participants are involved in doing-situations, i.e.
the participants are somehow involved in action
reactional, speech, mental and verbal processes.
Conceptual means that the participants are depicted
in relation to classificational, analytical, and
symbolic processes.
The Interactive meaning encompasses all
the relations between people, animals, places and
objects and how they engage with each other by
means of paying close attention to the matters of
gazing, social distance, perspective, angle, to
mention a few.
The Compositional meaning shows how the
information is spread in the image through the
conceptual patterns of left and right (Given and
New), top and bottom (Ideal and Real), centre and
margin layouts, framing and salience.
The use of a Visual Grammar when
pursuing a visual analysis only makes great sense
when its context is taken into consideration, as well
how it is valued and used in locality. It is also
important to state that any semiotic modes have
different meanings, usage or value as time goes by.
As Kress & van Leeuwen (2006, p. 35) contend:
The use of the visual mode is
not the same now as it was even
fifty years ago in Western
societies; it is not the same from

one society to another; and it is

not the same from one social
group or institution to another.

The Grammar of Visual Design does not

have a limiting or constraining role upon the
images, on the contrary, the main objective is
foremost to provide awareness to scholars,
linguists, and people in general of how meaning is
produced in society in different social settings,
especially within the Western society. The Visual
Grammar is a flexible set of resources that shows
how sign-making is a complex process that
involves deeply social, cultural and political
relations endowed by a bundle of important aspects
such as rules, conventions, values and beliefs.
My interest in Visual Design relies on the
fact that Visual Design gives the possibility of
understanding how images represent the real social
world and how images mean what they mean
because of where we see them.
Having said, it is important to call attention
to the fact that Kress & van Leeuwen analyze
highly crafted snapshots, like images, pictures,
photos, ads, and so on. Their concern doesnt
involve accidental snaps of something real
happening in the world outside the frame of the
picture.
What I mean is that my work also takes into
account the context and the location in which the
text, the image, the semiotic resource or the social
interaction was taken from. For instance, by
analyzing the snapshot of two people walking in

the streets and talking at the same time, I would

probably focus on their actions and their social
performances in the real world.
Here for the purposes of my work, I
elaborate on Kress & van Leeuwens semiotic
system according to how images are depicted:
The first system is called Represented
participants and it carries meaning from both
Narrative and Conceptual structures. In Narratives
the main idea is centered on the relation between
the participants interconnected by the vectors that
related them. The Conceptual relationship, on the
other hand, is marked by the absence of vectors of
gaze, direction, and movement, the potential
meaning in conceptual structures are more abstract
than in the Narrative, where it is actually possible
to read a real action going on.
The system of Modality embodies the idea
of credibility and truthfulness. In terms of visual
elements, it shows how close to reality is the image.
For instance, a more natural coloration brings the
idea of faithful to reality; however, a lower degree
of saturation in images may lead readers to think
of a distant shot from real life.
In the system of Composition, meaning, as
it is understood by Westerners, is displayed
according to the diagram below:

Adapted from Kress and van Leeuwen (1996, 2006)

According to the diagram the top signals

the Ideal information and the bottom signals the
Real information. Given information comes on the
left and New information comes on the right.
As an example a menu from an online
Brazilian restaurant displays exactly this kind of
meaning to their clients. Although there may be
some cross-cultural differences in menus around
the world, that I may be not aware of, in general
menus tend to follow the same informational
system developed by Kress and van Leeuwen.

Looking at this menu, we know for a fact

that the food comes first and the price comes right
after it. It would be strange if the prices come on
the left side and the food on the right one. Clients
would be confused by how the information is
posed.
Interactive participants have been applied
to situations where the participants interact
between them. This relationship usually occurs
between the participants who produce the meaning,
such as authors, designers, printers, speakers, and
the receptive participants, as readers, consumers,
viewers, and listeners. The social interaction
embodies a multitude of concepts, such as, the
contrast between offer and demand, the issues of
gaze and framing of the picture, just to mention
some.
Language as a local practice
Another pivotal theoretical basis that I
follow here is addressed to questions of language,
locality and practice as a way to comprehend how
language is related to social practices, and to the
urban space around us. Pennycook (2010) states
that nowadays is becoming much more common
the interest on practices of everyday life in which
people engage in.
Viewing language as a form of action
challenges the traditional conception of language as
a system, giving space to a context-influenced view
of language as a result of social and cultural

interferences. Moreover, the concept of locality

according to Pennycooks view is explored in terms
of its manifestation of places and the local practices
that mediates a range of social activities.
We engage in several practices throughout
our lives, as (Schatzki 2002, p.70 in Pennycook,
2010, p.2) points out:
Social life is policed by a range
of such practices as negotiation
practices, political practices,
cooking
practices,
banking
practices, recreation practices,
religious
practices,
and
educational practices.

While language is obviously a key term that

mediates all of our activities, it is also important to
come to an understanding of the idea of local, as a
place that becomes the site of resistance, of
tradition, of authenticity, of all that needs to be
preserved (Pennycook, 2010, p. 04).
It follows that the local, juxtaposed to the
idea of the sophisticated and innovative global,
becomes a space of struggles among an ensemble
of nuances, discourses, voices, and social actors. At
the core of the discussion about the local, resides an
understanding of the urban settings as privileged
spaces of manifold manifestations.
As Pennycook (2010) has shown us, several
social practices can be contemplated in urban

spaces, such as graffiti, scribblings on toilet walls,

le parkour1, skating, hip-hop, tourism activities, etc.
Those same social practices are deemed to
be a threat to private properties and public spaces
in the cityscape. At the hub of this discussion is the
issue of globalization and neoliberalism that I shall
develop in due course and that Pennycook (2010)
brought us when referring to graffiti artists:
A common argument among
graffiti artists is that the legally
sanctioned
billboards
and
advertisements that adorn urban
environments are a greater
eyesore than graffiti, and it is
only the fact that capitalistinfluenced laws make one legal
and the other not that turns their
art into an underground activity
(p.57).

An array of occurrences such as graffiti,

warnings, billboards, prohibition signs, and other
manifestations in the urban space are transgressive,
since they are mostly found in restricted areas,
private spaces or law-sanctioned sites, that is, nonauthorized places prohibited by legal or social
measures. Thereby, what differs subaltern practices
from institutionalized practices is their level of
criminalization; not only they are illegitimate and
non-recognizable practices, but also illegal ones.
1

It is a training based on movement in which practitioners

move quickly overcoming obstacles around them by running,
climbing, jumping or rolling.

The study of the semiotic landscape

explores the interplay among language, local
practices, urban space, society, and the law by
taking a social semiotic ground and considering the
interconnection between the signs/images found in
the urban environment and the legal code.
According to Mautner (2012, p. 190) signs
interact with space, the law and society on a
number of levels. Signs can inform us or enact
certain basic rules of our social lives. Still, signs
can be good examples of cultural and political
expressions within the urban space. They may also
restrict us and curtail the public space or expand
our paths.
At this point, it is important to state that
signs and the view that I apply here in my work is
understood as motivated; neither arbitrary, as
stated by Saussure, nor conventional, according to
Peirce, but motivated. Motivation has come to be
used to in relation to the sign-maker (the producer)
and the context in which the sign is produced.
From a social semiotic perspective signs are
considered to be resources which people use to
make meaning.
A well-known example is the directive sign
of non-smoking; especially in schools, churches,
and hospitals, this sign has the power to restrict the
smoking habits of some people by enforcing
specific laws in case of disobedience.
At the core of the discussion about signs is
the observation that space is an interactive part of
our social, cultural and political lives. The space in

which public signs are found needs also to be

considered in terms of its historical background
influencing present lives (Pennycook, ibid).
Nevertheless, space can no longer be seen
as the place of static and fixed, or in Pennycooks
terms, it is not the backcloth on which events and
language are projected through time. Rather,
language practices are activities that produce time
and space (p. 56). From this point of view, we can
state that a local language practice, as the warning
signs in the streets, the graffiti, and the discussions
surrounding them does not happen in a time and
space dimension; time and space are in fact part of
the happening.
My interest here relies on public signs as
mechanisms of interaction and interference over
space and everything else that implicates space, as
place, context and location under the jurisdiction of
the law. From Conquergoods view (cited in
Pennycook, 2010, p.58) local language practices
may be interpreted as a counterliteracy that
challenges, mimics, and carnivalizes the relations
between text, private ownership and the control of
public space. More than that, local language
practices are interwoven with the local in such a
way that they can control the space by dictating
who has the power to decide the way the cityscape
looks.
Getting to know how billboards, pamphlets
on the walls, warning signs, traffic signs, and
graffiti struggle over the cityscape is about
understanding what types of semiotic practices can

participate in the making of the city. Much

distinction of what is official and what is illegal has
to do with the prejudice that suggests that some
signs can pollute the visual space and compromise
the citys attractiveness.
Pennycook (2010) draws our attention to the
fact that any attempt to control the signs displayed
around us by authorities goes beyond the
controlling of urban semiotics. There is much more
at stake, mostly, it has to do with controlling and
regulating the language practices in the city, i.e the
urban environment is semiotically reinterpreted by
the signs in the streets. This helps us to see that
cityscape is not an immutable and homogenous
space where everything is predicted by the owners
of that territory. The semiotic landscape is a
particular space that expresses mobility,
heterogeneity, and abstract elements.
As Pennycook (2010, p. 62) points outs
space is both material and productive of new
understandings,
cultural,
social,
political,
historical, and still Pennycook (2010) argues that
language practices are all about space, they
constitute and are constituted by spatial
configurations.
Again, Pennycook (ibid) states that
Likewise, singing happy birthday round a birthday
cake, talking about food distribution in a refugee
camp or writing in a ships log in the Southern
Ocean are both linguistic and spatial practices (p.
63). Not only public signs and warnings, but much
more actions, as talking on a cell phone while

walking, taking classes, going to the movies are

engaged to both linguistic and spatial practices
(Pennycook, ibid).
Many of those linguistic and spatial
practices crop up in a much more complex context.
Pennycook (ibid) sees a relation between the
language practices we are involved in and the very
concept of genre we know, but not in a traditional
and standardized way. Pennycook (ibid) contends
that if we understand language practices as
repeated and regular social activity involving
language, there is clearly a certain affinity with this
notion of genre (p.116). Then, if texts are
organized in a predictable way according to the
social interaction of different cultures, then,
viewing language practices this way will always be
problematic, once genres are described by the
pattern that they follow, as a frozen snapshot of
language, immutable.
However, a bundle of other aspects should
be considered when referring to language practices,
since they are not as stable and fixed as the concept
of genre may suggest; on the contrary they are
made by people in their social encounters taking
into account the social world in which it was
produced and serving its social function in the
society.
Geosemiotics
The linguistic practices we engage in
constantly may be found everywhere in different

encounters we have in day-to-day life. According to

Scollon & Scollon, (2003) there is social world
presented in the material world through its
discourses signs, structures, other people and
our actions produce meanings in the light of those
discourses (p.1). By involving ourselves in social
practices in the material world around us we are
also behaving and conducting our lives according
to the precepts of the law in our society.
Different nuances of the law may be found
in the streets when a municipal ordinance is given
through a regulatory sign prohibiting parking in a
specific area or regulating the speed limit in a road.
Good examples of the legal discourse in the urban
landscape show how complex and entrenched is the
law in our lives. Legal discourse may be implicitly
or explicitly disposed in the cities; whenever it is
posted in the streets as a directive or regulatory
signs, for instance, it fits perfectly in the
environment it was designated to be part of at the
first place, since signs are context-based, i.e. they
have a specific meaning to a specific place and
audience.
A few remarks on the issue of Geosemiotics
need to be developed here, since this work deals
with matters of space and urban semiotics. Scollon
& Scollon, (2003, p. 2) define geosemiotics as the
study of the social meaning of the material
placement of signs and discourses and of our
actions in the material world. According to them,
public signs have a pivotal role in reflecting the
spatial practices that surround us and regulating the

space in which they happen. Whenever signs in the

urban space impose ways of behaving and norms of
conduct, offers of services, demands for political
and ideological positions, and somehow selects
their audience, they in a way convey power and
status in a non-neutral manner.
Geosemiotics makes reference to the social
meanings and placement of signs displayed around
us, and produced by us, as social actors in the
material world we live in (Scollon & Scollon,
2003). The system of geosemiotics is composed of
three main systems, namely the interaction order,
the visual semiotics, and the place semiotics; all of
them will be developed further on in due course.
By now, it is possible to say that:
Everywhere in our world are the
logos and brand names on the
products we use in daily life and
on the shops that line our streets
and malls. Wherever we go we
see
the
sociocultural,
sociopolitical
regulatory
apparatus of our worlds in the
traffic regulations displayed in
painted lines on streets that
indicate where we may drive or
walk and we see this apparatus in
the traffic lights at intersections
(Scollon & Scollon, ibidem).

The bedrock of my work is not the pure

concept of signs as the way it is understood in
Pierces work, although his theoretical perspective
is very well regarded in the field of Semiotics, but

mostly, the focus of my current research is in the

context-dependency
of
signs
(henceforth
indexicality); in other words, indexicality swirls
around the issue of language placed in the material
world.
At this point, it is indispensable to
differentiate icon, symbol and index. By an icon I
mean the representation of something from the real
world, such as a gesture or a picture. Symbols are
completely arbitrary signs, for instance, the colors
of a traffic light in the intersection have no clear
explanation why those colors have been chosen to
guide drivers and pedestrians in the streets. Lastly,
the concept of index has to do with the location of
the sign, as well as with its meaning. As previously
stated, indexicality is centered on the idea of the
context surrounding that sign, a good example is
when a tourist asks for direction in the street; when
pointing to the correct direction we ourselves
produce meaning with our own body and gestures
(Scollon and Scollon, 2003).
Nevertheless, it is risky and simplistic to
think that all the signs must be categorized into the
three types above-mentioned. As a matter of fact,
signs usually come together in combination with
other types of signs. For instance, the
internationally known No-smoking sign is a clear
example of an icon and an arbitrary symbol. The
cigarette icon depicts the real cigarette and the red
circle with a diagonal line across indicates that it is
prohibited to smoke in that specific area.

Having said that, the main point of this

research relies on the relation between the signs
indexed in the world and other semiotic modes, i.e.
the interconnectedness of language and signs in the
physical world. The texts taken into consideration
here go beyond the grammatical analysis
traditionally learned from schools since it is related
to texts in a broader and extended way.
I believe that all the semiotic systems taken
into account here, such as the already mentioned
traffic signs, street banners, poster, flyers, street
performance, graffiti, and others just to mention
some, are all part of a social semiotic system, and
as so, they tend to reflect the choices that sign
makers and text producers choose constantly. By
choosing one they reject other possibilities. Putting
it simply, when I choose one option over another, I
automatically define what I believe to be more
appropriate one, at least momentarily.
As said by Scollon & Scollon (2003, p.7):
All semiotic systems operate as
systems of social positioning and

power relationship both at the

level
of
interpersonal
relationships and at the level of
struggles for hegemony among
social groups in any society
precisely because they are
systems of choices and no
choices are neutral in the social
world.

In this sense, the analysis conducted here

focuses sharply on the signs produced in our
society, and reflects our own languages and stories,
our personal experiences, the way we interact and
act in the material world around us, but also our
phenotype and behavioral manners.
Geosemiotics takes four concepts to be
pivotal to the understanding of human actions in
society: (i) social actor, (ii) interaction order, (iii)
visual semiotics, and (iv) place semiotics.
The way the social actor is seen here has to
do with the human being acting in the world,
his/her personal experience of the world, his/her
previous knowledge, interests, and a massive
number of characteristics one can express.
When bringing to the discussion the issue of
interaction order, firstly it has to be said that the
very same term coined by Goffman put a relevant
issue at stake by cataloguing around 11 types of
interaction order. Interaction order the way I
understand here consists of the relationships we
maintain with people, and may be a conversation
with a friend, a walking with a co-worker towards

the office, a single talking on the phone during your

lunchtime.
Many types of social interactions can be
easily identified in our day-to-day life. For
instance, when someone mentions a wedding party
we commonly think about a formal event that
requires specifically kinds of clothing and behavior
whilst someone mentions a soccer match we
immediately think about the crowd and hawkers
selling candies, water, popcorn and flags. No one
ever would consider going to a soccer match
wearing a tuxedo or long fancy skirts. It is safe to
say that since very early stages in life we are
encouraged to take into account the event we are
invited to go and behave properly.
In accordance with that Scollon & Scollon
(2003) state that
While these types of social
interaction vary widely from
society to society both in their
structure and in the rules for a
good performance, there is no
society that does not distinguish
quite a variety of ways in which
people come together within
some interaction order for that
society (p.16).

Visual semiotics here follows pretty much

the grammar of visual design created by Kress and
van Leeuwen (1996, 2006) based on Hallidays
social semiotic approach of language, which was
mentioned in the beginning of this chapter. By

using their visual semiotics perspective, Scollon &

Scollon (2003) are interested how the various
interaction orders are visually depicted and how the
visual elements found in the signs analyzed can be
interpreted.
Place semiotics in a broad sense means the
space where semiotic resources are placed. As
Scollon & Scollon (2003, p. 19) point out that
geosemiotics considers non-semiotic spaces
where signs are prohibited as well as semiotic
spaces which facilitate pictures, discourses, or
actions.
The concept of indexicality is central to
Geosemiotics, since the very same material world
indicated above has language indexed on it, which
has everything to do with the theory of
Geosemiotics itself to begin with. Geosemiotics
deals with real-time events in the spatial world and
the performativity of those same events by the
individuals in their social interactions in their
every-day lives. To put it concisely, this property
of language, that it makes part of its meaning
because of where it is in the world, is called
indexicality (Scollon & Scollon, p. 25).
The studies of Edward Hall (1959, 1966)
contributed as the fundamental basis of
Geosemiotics. The tenets he uses to describe time
and space are considered striking points to the
analysis of discourses in place pursued here. Some
of the dimensions he pinpoints are: sense of time,
perceptual spaces, and interpersonal distances,

which still are of greatest interest to the analysis of

the interaction order.
Sense of time is characterized by the degree
of urgency that is given to someones action. In
what follows, however, a traffic sign that say such
things as No Parking, except from 10 pm up to 6
am indicates that that space is constrained by time,
as the image that follows below.

For instance, body gestures, gaze, and

postures index the individuals psychological state,
as well as displays particular forms of ones
expressing self, and are good examples used to read
someones body expression. By looking at someone
tapping the fingers it may be possible to detect
impatience, and consequently a sense of time
urgency.
Perceptual spaces are delimited by some
spatial boundaries, such as visual space, auditory

space, olfactory space, thermal space, and tactile

space. They are all indication of space around us,
for instance if someone asks: Did you see that?
Probably this person is pointing in the air showing
what called his / her attention, and on the other
hand, the interlocutor is looking for the that just
mentioned.
Halls Interpersonal distance has to do with
face-to-face interaction among individuals, and has
much to do with Kress and van Leeuwens notion
of social distance whilst representing social actors
and viewers. Interpersonal distance is a crucial
resource by which we geosemiotically embody
significant meanings about ourselves and about
others and about our relationships (Scollon &
Scollon, 2003, p. 54).
Geosemiotics has everything to do with the
indexicality of meanings in space and time
dimensions. Our social roles, the way we perform
in different places, and our demeanor in various
interaction orders are crucial to the understanding
of discourses in our geosemiotic world.
The very idea of personal front developed
by Erving Goffman (1959, 1963) has much to
contribute to the dimension of embodiment, very
relevant to the tenet of interaction order, previously
developed. Put simply, personal front is what
Goffman states as intimate and personal
characteristics or objects that one carries or wears,
which can be ones accessories, such as glasses and
earrings and even the brand of perfume.

For instance, it includes the color of the

glasses someone chooses to wear in an academic
event or at a party. In an academic event, the person
might choose a more discrete color, meanwhile in a
party the same person would probably choose a
more vibrant and flashy pair of glasses.
The brand of our clothes, the colors we use,
our postures, and gestures, they may all seem to be
controlled by us, however, our embodied
communication keeps happening independently of
our will and decision. The concept of personal front
tells a lot of our wishes, habits and attitudes.
For instance, if in the middle of someones
lecture I start yawning, my interlocutor may
interpret from my lazy movements that I would like
to be somewhere else, probably in my own bed.
Someones personal front captures pretty much the
way one is read by others in society.
Something that is important to bear in mind
is that embodiment, in the way it was conceived by
Goffman, Hall and Scollon & Scollon, is that the
embodied actions we express are also connected to
the actions of others, and to the meanings others
produce, since they occur in the same dimension of
time and space as from the others around us.
When making a parallel between Kress and
van Leeuwens Grammar of Design (1996, 2006)
and the understanding of Visual Semiotics
according to Scollon & Scollon (2003) it is possible
to differentiate in the subtleties the influence of
Kress and van Leeuwens theory over the study of

Geosemiotics, especially when it concerns signs in

public space.
Some striking points found in the Grammar
of Design are particularly relevant to the analysis
conducted here, namely: the way real life is
represented in visual images, as the way the real
world is indexed in those images. Put another way,
the main focus is on how images represent the real
social world, on how images mean what they mean
because of where we see them, and on how we use
images to do other things in the world Scollon &
Scollon (2003, p.84).
By saying that, it becomes clear that the
complexities presented in the Grammar of Design
are in way expanded to another level of analysis.
The focus here when conducting a research in the
area of Geosemiotics has much more to do with
how the images (shop signs, traffic signs, posters,
etc) make sense of their own meanings taking into
account the place they are located than the analysis
of the images per se. In other words, the intent here
is to discuss how the images just mentioned play
their social semiotic work in the world around us
surrounded by a number of systems of indexicality.
When giving focus to several signs in the
urban space and to multiple interaction orders
found in the streets, the present work differs from
the scope in the work of Kress & van Leeuwen,
which took into account several pictures, photos,
and snapshots in order to advance with their theory.
Naturally, the way a picture or a photograph is read
is completely different from the way an interaction

order (any social event, as for instance, a street

performer presenting his / her show whilst passers
take pictures and interact with the artist) is read.
The process of reproducing any social event
is completely different from a picture or a
photograph itself. The latter is captured at the real
time of that specific moment when the event is
happening and the second depicts a highly
produced snapshot compounded by models, actors
and actresses interpreting a role.
Naturally, it is important to bear in mind
that highly designed images are completely
different from a single snapshot of someone acting
in the real world.
In order to locate ourselves in the world,
willy nilly, street signs, traffic signs, billboards, and
awnings from coffee shops and restaurants play
important role in giving us spatial clues about the
place around us. For instance, the sequence of
images above tries to depict a very important tenet
in Geosemiotics named code preference.
Like the name suggests, it refers to the
preference of code, in this case, language, chosen
to express a determined sign, which depends
therefore on the geopolitical location of the signs
(Scollon & Scollon, 2003). Naturally, in bilingual
countries, for instance, code preference is governed
by specific laws, which doesnt necessarily means
that those rules will be obeyed in all the cities as a
whole.

It is possible to see in city streets, stores that

have their names in a language different from the
language spoken in the country where the sign is
located. The image below depicts this example.
Although the school has a French name it isnt
located in a French-speaking country. The picture
was taken in a Brazilian city in the northeast. Most
likely, it symbolizes the foreign style and the
quality of a European school, but it doesnt
necessarily mean that all the professionals there
belong to the French community, and follow the
French ordinance.

According to Scollon & Scollon (2003, p.

119):
The actual language used
English, Chinese, French, etc.
can either index the community
within which it is being used or it
can symbolize something about

the product or business which has

nothing to do with the place in
which it is located.

On the other hand, the non-smoking sign

below may not indicate much about the country or
city it is located in. Signs indicate what they mean
by indexicality, in other words, the property of
indexicality doesnt point to any specific direction
in the world. In this case, it is not contextdependent, since its a sign known worldwide by its
iconic status but it doesnt bring as reference a
written language, as the non-smoking sign shown
above does.

At the same time the cigarette represented

in the sign resembles the real object from the real
world, the diagonal line across it in red, is the
international prohibition symbol that indicates that
something is not allowed in that space. The sign,
then, uses both an icon (the cigarette) and a symbol
(red line), purely arbitrary or conventional.

In order to interpret the meanings derived

from signs, two analytically distinct manners
enable us to do so: indexicality and symbolization.
A previously stated, indexicality focus on issues of
geopolitical and geophysical placement; on the
other hand, symbolization relies on metaphorical
issues and the ideal representation of an object
from the real world. One good example is that the
Brazilian Portuguese written / spoken in Brazil, in a
way, indexes Brazil, as well as its habits, its
culture, the way people express themselves, and
how people make sense of the world. However, if
someone decides to write or speak using the variety
from Portugal, it wont index Portugal in Brazil. On
the contrary, it will simply symbolize Portugal in
Brazil, the way people speak and behave there, as a
representation of Portuguese people.
It is not only aspects of indexicality and
symbolization that reveal the meaning potential
available in the material world. Other aspects, such
as temporality, durability, and quality can be
conveyed through many other subtleties found in
signs. According to Scollon & Scollon meaning can
also be indicated by:

Meaning of inscription
(brush, engraving, etc)

Material of the sign itself

(brass, wood, plastic, canvas, cloth,
paper)

Freshness of installation
(wet paint, shiny unmarked
surfaces)
(2003, p. 135)

For instance, the image above is a good

example of temporality. The for rent sign in the
house indicates that previously the house wasnt for
rent, and, hopefully that later on it wont be either.
As soon as someone gets interested in the house,
the for rent sign will no longer exist. Thus, I may
assume that, as the real estate market in Brazil is
growing frighteningly, the for rent sign will stand
in the house only for a short period of time.

Another good example within the Brazilian

context is the board sign from CREA (Conselho
Regional de Engenharia e Arquitetura), a Brazilian
Counsil of Engineering and Arquitecture that by
law enforcement regulates all the construction and
reforms in Brazil, such as squares, bridges,
apartment building, etc. For every construction
that is made within the Brazilian territory (bridges,
roads, new apartment buildings) the CREA sign is

displayed near the construction to inform people of

validity of that work. The CREA sign, is spread all
over Brazil, and that regulate the length of the
work, the public budget required, etc. In other
words, the CREA sign highlights the aspects of
temporality, durability, and quality to the urbanites
passing.
Also a common example of signs found
everywhere, especially in large cities are those
hiring personnel signs. Temporarily is conveyed in
those signs in need for professionals. As soon is the
new employee is found, the sign will be irrelevant.
Most of the time, the material used in Brazil are
low-quality paper, printed on A4 paper, not so
durable, hand-made.
The quality of the material says a lot about
durability and temporality, which in a way says a
lot about the meaning.
As stated by Scollon & Scollon (2003, p.
136):
A heavy, durable, expensive
material indexes a longer time of
preparation and a greater expense
in production which we assume
conveys the intention on the part
of the producer for this sign to
endure over a long period of
time

Layering of indexicality is another relevant

feature that may be detected in many street signs in
the cityscape. Whenever one sign is juxtaposed to
another, and the time interval is different then, it is

possible to assume matters of recency suggested by

the newer sign.
For instance, the sign below states this
situation very clearly. Years ago, the city of
Florianpolis in South Brazil was not crowded and
full of cars, as it is today. Walking through the
town, its possible to see that the City Hall found a
solution to the problematic issue of parking space.
Residential areas downtown usually have very
narrow streets and lots of schools and apartment
buildings in the same area. The Zona Azul, as it is
called in most cities in Brazil is the way the
municipal legislators found to regulate the public
space and improve the parking condition in town.
Although it is not a 100% efficient measure, the
Zona Azul offers a solution in the streets and
attempts at making the traffic more fluid.

In order to increase the number of parking

spaces in the streets and to solve the traffic
situation during the rush hours, new signs were
implemented over the already existing ones. Also,
new rules were established regarding time and the
proper means of transportation that should be used
in that area.
The no-parking sign shown above is an
attempt to guide drivers to avoid parking in that
area, especially during the day hours, which are
the busiest ones. However, drivers are allowed to
park from 10 pm to 6 am. It is hard to predict if this
very same sign will be in the same position twenty
years from now on. More people are purchasing
new vehicles, the probability is that new parking
spaces must be created and new traffic signs
displayed in other spots.
In the same no-parking sign shown above it
is possible to observe a remodeling of the original
semiotic design, a form of layering happened, and
clearly it brings new meanings and new manners of
behaving.
The original no-parking sign brings an
exception in the form of an add-on, allowing
drivers to park from 10 to 6. This this add-on may
be a way of indicating that the city is growing so
fast, that it requires different rules for parking in
the public space, in order to fit into the new reality
of the city.
Another common example of layering is a
well-known marketing strategy of crossing out an
old price and replacing it with a new one, usually in

a colorful and flashy way to call the clients

attention and led them to buy the products tempted
by the irresistible sale, as shown in the example
below.
One might think this sale never existed in
the first place, and that the store never really sold
the product for the original price crossed out,
however, misleading clients to believe that they are
actually saving money when buying the product is
efficient and appealing in business.
Another common form of layering is the
layering of this is new frequently found in
websites, possibly because of the flexible nature of
the internet, in constant need of updated
information.
As an example, the image below from an
online restaurant in Florianpolis displays at the
bottom of the right side a label saying that now
they have light desserts. The information seems
completely new in their menu, they didnt seem to
have this light dessert before.

In the field of Geosemiotics, another

fundamental concept is the idea of emplacement.
Emplacement is the same of language in a physical
location, in other words, discourse in place.
Emplacement in signs defines signs as:
decontextualized, transgressive, and situated.
Decontextualized are the signs dissociated
from any real place in the real world. They are
decontextualized in relation to the framing of the
picture. Brand names and logos are very good
examples of this, particularly because they may
well be acknowledged, as symbols of specific
places. Other decontextualized semiotic resources

are the left to right text vector used in most, if not

in all Western countries, as well as the differences
of capitalization between English and Portuguese,
for instance (Scollon & Scollon, 2003).
Transgressive are the ones placed in
unexpected places, going against the expectation or
in violation of any law. The most common example
is graffiti in urban settings. Most likely, when
graffiti is brought to the discussion some people
tend to consider graffiti as wrong text in a wrong
place, and somehow understate its value; others
may still overvalue it. It is Pennycook (2010) who
warns us by saying that:
there is a great deal that can be
said about graffiti as text, not
only in terms of the political and
social messages they may
convey, but also in terms of the
playful
and
transgressive
language use (p. 56).

A good example of a playful and

transgressive use of language was found on a street
wall next to a Brazilian Health Center, a public
institution kept by SUS, Brazilian Health System,
shown below. The message said: Me chama de
Copa e investe em mim, which translating to
English would be something like Call me World
Cup and invest on me. The well-known Brazilian
jargon Me chama de became very much
famous all over the country, especially with the aid
of Facebook where people used to give
connotations differently from the original message.

The graffiti on the wall pointed towards the

Health
Center
suggesting
that
Brazilian
government is investing much more in the World
Cup that will take place in Brazil in 2014 than in
the public Health System SUS.
At the same time the graffiti brings a
political and social content embedded in it, it plays
with a national well-known and funny jargon in a
very humourous way. The image is also an example
of the indexicality of language. The graffiti makes
much more sense because of the arrow pointing in
the direction of the Health Center, which binds
together the message to a place, in other words,
putting discourse in place.

The message interacts with the viewer, the

passers, and the context in which the graffiti is
located.

Situated semiotics is also a core concept

within the Geosemiotics, since it is the aspect that
has much to do with the recognition of different
places around us by particular features and the
designs those places offer. For instance, the whole
set of characteristics displayed by Mc-Donalds
shops, such as the colors yellow and red, a flashy
awning, the cashiers always lined in their
respective places waiting for the clients orders, a
number of toys right on the counter calling kids
attention, just to name a few, are examples of
features that make an easily recognizable place for
everyone in the whole world, I dare to say.
Concluding
Framework

Remarks

on

the

Theoretical

Here I presented the theoretical approach

that backgrounds my work. I brought to the
discussion the most relevant aspects in the study of
visual elements around us. The present work draws
on a variety of analytical perspectives that aims at
unveiling different contexts in which language in
use in the physical world produces meaning and in

what ways we ourselves produce meaning to the

world.