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People often ask how discourse analysis is different from semiotics.
These two approaches are related and complementary, and they do share some assumptions. But they have different focal points and some different methods.
Semiotics looks at the whole range of signs (colour, texture, shape, sound and more) to map a cultural landscape.
Discourse analysis is concerned primarily with verbal language, whether written or spoken.
- So discourse analysis tends to work with different kinds of data from semiotics, and can be appropriate for different kinds of questions.
- Discourse analysis also packs a wide armoury of different analytic approaches. It offers tools and ideas that are different from semiotics and which do different things.
At Linguistic Landscapes we use whatever’s useful for your problem. We pick from a well-stocked toolbox that includes semiotics, discourse analysis, commercial experience and a good dose of pragmatism.