Representation: the production of meaning through language

Essay from the year 2005 in the subject Speech Science / Linguistics, University of Prishtina, course: Constructivism and Semiotics, language: English, abstract: Human beings created a world of messages and meanings and continue to create new ones to look for the meaning of life. In order to communicate with each other and leave their stories for the new generation, humans have been using the power of images and symbols since the beginning of the human history. It is this greatest purpose - communication - that makes human beings to construct their system of signs and symbols - their language - to make the world meaningful. This essay is an attempt to deal, in general, with question of representation - the production of meaning through language. In first part of the essay we define, shortly, three theories of representation, with the main focus on the constructionist theory. In the second part we will show how the constructionist approach has to do with representation, the relationship between them. And, in third part we will explain the importance that these theories have in relation with communication. We will focus our attention on structuralist semiotics - in Ferdinand de Saussure and Roland Barthes works.