Aboriginal perspectives and meanings are absent from this article, as are the arguments of the historians who favour the 'invasion' line. What we have here is a site in the print media which purports to be 'discussing' meanings, but which ensure, through various strategies, that only one set of meanings will appear to be 'balanced', 'sensible' and 'truthful'. This newspaper article is only one of a number of sites within a culture where the conflict over meanings--what Volosinov called the conflict of ideologies--is played out. Like the various discussions of meaning and gender, these conflicts produce realities rather than mirroring them.
SUMMARY
We can summarise the relationship between signs and meanings in three main points. First, meanings are relational. That is, meanings are pro- duced through the relations between signs. Signs do not possess meanings in and of themselves.Second, the interpretation of a signifier is always made through another signifier.Third, the production of meaning is an area of ideological contest- ation.
FURTHER READING
Innis R. (ed.) 1985, Semiotics: an Introductory Anthology, Indiana University Press, Bloomington
Volosinov VN. 1986, Marxism and the Philosophy of Language, trans. L. Matejka and I. Titunik, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts
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Publication Information: Book Title: Communication and Cultural Literacy: An Introduction. Contributors: Tony Schirato - author, Susan Yell - author. Publisher: Allen & Unwin. Place of Publication: St. Leonards, N.S.W.. Publication Year: 2000. Page Number: 33.
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