| The purpose of human communications is to create and use signs to conveymeanings, that is to say, sign is meaning by nature.The study of meaning can beconducted from different angles such as sociology, psychology and culture.And bytaking advantage of the relevant theories both in semiotics and semiotics of thecinema,the dissertation aims to discuss the meanings of TV communication signs.Itdeals with theories as well as their applications by means of related case study.Instead of an isolated and static study of signs by structural semiotics,the dissertationtakes TV communication as a symbolized dynamic process of meaningproduction.And in the process, meaning of TV signs can be seen as a result oftriangle relations. Firstly, based on theories of R.Barthes, the dissertation proposes two levels ofmeaning of TV signs, namely, denotation and connotation. As the primary level ofmeaning, denotation is a combination of the signifier and signified. Connotation is thesecondary level of meaning, and it serves as an additional associative meaning abovedenotation. It has a cultural concept. Denotation and connotation are conveyed by means of metaphor and metonymy,which may play different roles in different TV programs. In the meaning of TV signs, both denotation and connotation are a combinationof the signified and signifier. But according to F.de Saussure, the combination isarbitrary, and so meaning of TV signs has to be constructed by human beings. How toconstruct it? The dissertation puts forward an idea of triangle relations, that is, therelation between signs in the sign system, that between the sign and its referent aswell as that between TV audience and signs. In the TV sign system, the meaning of a sign is determined by how it iscombined with other signs. Different combinations usually come up with differentmeanings. The combinations of TV signs lie both in syntagmatic and paradigmaticrelations. They tell how denotation and connotation come into being. A review of the referential relation of TV signs helps us have a betterunderstanding of the relation between the symbolic world and objective world. Thenature of TV signs is not their referents, but their meanings. The referents andmeanings can not be regarded as equal. The former is judged by "truth"( true or false ),whereas the latter by "thoughts", that is, how the referent is seen. In other words, withdifferent choice of facts and TV shots, different communicators can give the samereferent quite different meanings. The interactive relation between the TV audience and signs is a constructingprocess of subject identity. TV not only produces a sign text, but also a mechanism ofsubject identity. And the subject identity results from the mechanism of textenunciation, psychological appeal and ideology. It reflects the social identity of aperson. Therefore, the social structure has to be taken into consideration in the studyof meaning of TV signs. And the concrete social and cultural backgrounds play animportant role in analyzing the sign texts. To some extent, the subject identity reflectsa social relation. In a conclusion, the meaning of TV communication signs, constructed by thethree relations, reflect the social structure as well as the way people see the world. It isinfiltrated into the sign text, constructed by different sign combinations and thenconveyed to the audience in terms of metaphor and metonymy. It is hoped that the dissertation can offer a new angle for the study of TVcommunications and help the audience have a deeper understanding of TV sign texts.But, for lack of ability and knowledge, there must be a long way to really accomplishthe goal mentioned above.
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