earticle

영어

A military banner is designed to present many pieces of information on the unit that it represents. It should basically indicate the name of the unit, its size (or echelon), and its function including its branch. It also shows the tradition of the unit and the values and aims the unit cherishes. These things are represented by means of various signs including shapes, figures, colors, icons, linguistic expressions, etc.The purpose of this study is to examine what and how a military banner communicates to its viewers. From the point of view of communication, it is to specify how a message is decoded by a receiver. Among many theories proposed to explicate the relation between the signifier of a sign and what it signifies, this study adopts Peircean Theory of Semiotics as the frame of reference. More specifically, it examines the banners of the ROK Army and the US Army to investigate the linking mechanism of a signifier (or representamen in Peircean terminology) to its signifier (or object in Percean sense), subcategorizing the mechanism into (1) linking by convention, (2) chains established by severed links, and (3) linking by metaphor.