That the "self is formed by language and signs" is clearly evident in the slogan that represents the Barack Obama campaign and Obama supporters, "Change." Individuals take this word as a sign that means numerous things, from the hope of a better economy to the end of racial divisions in American society. According to linguistics professor Robert Innis (2), human beings are "sign-users" and "meaning-makers." It is language that transmits a potentially infinite system of signs through which we make meaning. This analysis will explore this concept using the example of "change" to show how we forge the self through language and signs.
"Change" is such a strong self-defining signifier for Obama supporters, because it refers to a change from what most view as the flawed and failed policies of the Bush Administration. All of the cultural experiences and language used under the Bush Administration have found a new promise in the language of "change" wrought by Obama, because it equates to what people now want. Lanigan (2) explains that "The significative intention gives itself a body and knows itself by looking for an equivalent in the system of available significations represented by the language I speak and the whole of the writings and culture I inherit." It is only through language and its signs that we know anything, including self. Many individuals refer to themselves as Obama-ites, or Obama Mamas, or the like, while wearing t-shirts or carrying banners that proudly hail "change."
We all use words to define others, our experiences, the world around us, and our selves. As Honi Fern Haber (4), "The self is a 'narrative construction,' and language a potentially infinite system of signs." Because of this, we are always able to be redefined from a different perspective because of the potentially infinite system of signs within language. Many who now support "Change" as the definitive definition of se...