ABSTRACT
Semiology' and 'semiotics' are alternative names - signifiers for the same thing - signified: the science of signs. Both words have Greek roots and the idea of a science of signs was conceived and practised in Ancient Greek philosophy. A major part of task of the would-be semiologist or semiotician is to show that grammars of sign systems other than language can indeed be constructed or at least to show that it illuminates a sign system to show that a grammar or component of a grammar cannot be constructed for it. One of Saussure's most influential contributions has been his distinction between the two sides of a sign, at once signifier and signified. The pioneer of a semiological approach to advertising and more generally, of mass media imagery - Roland Barthes, clearly does see that advertisements can only be approached as parole rather than langue and indeed, that we quite possibly have to do with parole without any corresponding langue.
