On the Use of Pictographic Elements in Pop-cultural Short Texts  on the Example of the Heart Pictogram Cover Image

Zur Anwendung piktographischer Elemente in popkulturellen Kurztexten am Beispiel des Herz-Piktogramms
On the Use of Pictographic Elements in Pop-cultural Short Texts on the Example of the Heart Pictogram

Author(s): Anna Kapuścińska
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies, Semiotics / Semiology, Theoretical Linguistics
Published by: KSIĘGARNIA AKADEMICKA Sp. z o.o.
Keywords: short text; pictogram; multimodality; conventionality; pop-culture;

Summary/Abstract: The article focuses on the use of pictographic elements in short texts of the pop-culture based on the example of the heart pictogram in the utterances which are built according to the pattern: ‘I ♥ ...’. It addresses two basic aspects of its use. The first one is the fact of combining two different semiotic codes: language and an iconic code in one sentence. This quite rare transsemiotic unit is understandable merely on the basis of an established convention, due to which the pictogram of a heart can be effortlessly encoded as `love’. The second aspect, which is also based on the convention, is the replaceability of the elements of a short text. It is especially plausible when the pictogram of a heart is replaced by other pictograms. However, after such a change, the primary meaning of the short text remains legible even if the implemented pictograms have an entirely different meaning.

  • Issue Year: 17/2022
  • Issue No: 34
  • Page Range: 49-61
  • Page Count: 13
  • Language: German