Beyond the traditional forms of communication noted above, individuals use other methods
to express themselves. These forms of communication include clothing, facial expression,
gestures, silence, and spatial relationship. One area of communication that has become salient in
American society today is the use of nonverbal forms of discourse surrounding tragic events,
primarily the loss of lives from traffic accidents, from homicides, from mass shootings, and from
premature deaths, especially when these tragedies are the result of acts of terror in the nation and
across the world. In these events, we see elements of communication shown by the presence of
balloons, candles, cards, clothing, crosses, pictures, flowers, mementos, and trinkets. We also
notice individuals of various ages, gender, racial and socioeconomic backgrounds who
participate at these events. These expressions of sorrow are used to communicate a message of
care and concern to viewers and to bring together family, friends, strangers, and concerned
citizens in a collaborative mode of thought. At such occasions, persons who place these objects
at impromptu memorial sites are responding to auditory and to visual stimuli which they
encounter. The objects of nonverbal language are meant to convey meaning to an audience near
and far. Unlike language, in the traditional sense of words, phrases, and sentences, these
expressions of sorrow are semiotic in that they are signs that work as language (Hall 36). What is
it about these forms of communication that make them vehicles of communication? In addition,
to whom are these expressions of communication sent? One possible answer to these questions
can be framed within a semiotic approach to language study.
Semiotics in Expressing Sorrow
The semiotic approach is a central feature in cultural studies. It treats signs as language
through which meaning is communicated (Barthes 9). Beginning with the work of Ferdinand
Saussure, he analyzed communication in terms of signs. Signs in societies consist of the signifier
and the thing signified. The signifier is the object, and the signified is the concept associated with
the signifier. For example, the placing of flowers at sites of tragedy are signifiers. The expression
of sorrow is the signified. On this topic, Hall further notes that “in the semiotic approach, not
only words and images but objects themselves can function as signifiers in the production of
meaning” (37). The meaning of flowers in these situations is the signified that is, the concepts
and ideas associated with flowers. Flowers are used in specific contexts to convey strong,
emotional elements of care, love, memory, respect, and so on. As with all elements of culture,
context influences meaning. Flowers, for instance, must be used in a specific context to convey a
84