ABSTRACT

According to Roman Jakobson’s theory, as developed in the writings of Yuri Lotman, there exists a distinction between semiotics as a communications discipline and what Lotman defines as ‘cultural semiotics’. The distinction is in the angle of research. The semiotics of communication examines the way people transmit information, and the model situation is person-text-person. Within this model the ‘best’ text is the one that best serves the purpose of communication. The clearer the channel the better the message transmitted along it. Other signals passing along the channel are regarded as ‘background interference’.