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Communication Theory

Semiotics is the study of signs or a sign system. Semiotic techniques enables the ôanalogy of language as a systemö to be ôextended to culture as a wholeö (Chandler 2004, 1). Semiotics permits a unifying conceptual framework that encompasses the whole range of signifying practices, including gesture, posture, dress, writing, music, speech, photography, film, television and radio (Chandler 2004). The Australian Celtic Festival offers a unique opportunity to apply semiotic techniques to gain a broader understanding of Celtic representation. In her book The Imaginary Australian, Miriam Dixson (1999) maintains that Anglo-Celtic culture ôwith its great virtues and real defects, has held the society together for over two centuriesö (36). This analysis will use semiotic terminology to gain a greater understanding of the Celtic culture.

The Australian Celtic Festival is attended by Clans, National Clans, pipe bands, artists, and spectators in a celebration of Celtic culture, including gesture, dress, music, art and other signifiers of meaning. Looking at a culture from a semiotic perspective enables us to comprehensively connect a number of signifiers and their meanings in order to gain a fuller understanding of that culture. As Chandler (2004) maintains, ôSemiotics makes us aware that the cultural values with which we make sense of the world are a tissue of conventions that have been handed down from generation to generation by the members of the culture of which we are a partö (1).

The Australian Celtic Festival encompasses a large number of cultural values that viewed from a semiotic perspective gain greater meaning. Human beings are meaning-makers and we seek to understand meaning through the creation of signs and our interpretation of them. Such signs abound at the Celtic Festival. The festival opens with a welcome ceilidh (Australian 2004). A ceilidh is one of a collection of Celtic dances with distinct gest...

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Communication Theory. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 09:53, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1710232.html