ABSTRACT
At this point, some reflection on the verbal processing of visual material might be appropriate, since a semiotic structure with a visual signifier is proposed. In linguistics the distinction between an object language and the metalanguage by which the former is scientifically processed is well established. There is no reason why the procedure applied to auditory material should not be applicable to visual material in order to establish meaningful nonlinguistic semiotic structures. The use of a verbal or symbolic metalanguage seems to be the only way to advance our knowledge of the semiological status and the degree of conventionality and organization of visual objects. Just as the behavioural psychologist, talking or writing about his observations, labels observed behavioural units by words, one can translate visual observations into a verbal metalanguage which in turn may be judged for its logical consistency in a metametalanguage (Greimas, 1966).
