In its broadest sense, **semiotics** is the study of signs and their interpretation. According to Raymond Monelle, there are two main approaches to modern semiotics: one linguistic and the other philosophical.^[Raymond Monelle, *Linguistics and Semiotics in Music* (Chur, Switzerland: Harwood Academic, 1992), 193.] The linguistic approach, also known as *semiology*, originated with Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure and has been developed primarily by French writers. The philosophical approach, or *semiotic*, is a branch of epistemology in traditional philosophy, with a history reaching back to Aristotle and beyond. The latter approach is generally associated with the American pragmatist philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce and has been particularly influential for musical semiotics.^[See, for example, Robert S. Hatten, *Musical Meaning in Beethoven: Markedness, Correlation, and Interpretation* (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1994) and Monelle cited above.] To briefly summarize the difference between the two approaches, [[Saussurean semiotics]] primarily concerns the linguistic sign, which Saussure construed as having two parts: signifier and signified (**Example 1**).^[Ferdinand de Saussure, *Course in General Linguistics*, ed. Perry Meisel and Haun Saussy, trans. Wade Baskin (New York: Columbia University Press, 2011), 66.] ![[example saussure's dyadic model of signification.png]] **Example 1.** Saussure’s dyadic model of signification. In [[Peircean semiotics]], however, signification involves a triadic relationship between sign, object, and interpretant (**Example 2**).^[Charles S. Peirce, *Collected Papers of Charles Sanders Peirce*, ed. Charles Hartshorne and Paul Weiss (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1960), 2.228.] For Peirce, the linguistic sign was just one of many sign types. ![[example peirce's triadic model of signification.png]] **Example 2.** Peirce’s triadic model of signification, involving sign (S), object (O), and interpretant (I).