Codes of narrativeA B C D E F G H IJKL M N O P R S T U VXYZWsome avant-garde, subject to textual rather
than commonly recognized cues to mean-
ing. Much modern art, for example, has been
encoded in visual languages accessible only
to a small number of people. However, over
time, innovative aesthetic encoding becomes
conventionalized. Th e obscure code has become
familiar. A case in point is Surrealism, whose
intention was to shock cultural convention,
yet whose dream symbols and often disturb-
ing juxtapositions of objects have become a
commonplace of mass advertising. What began
as a code specifi c to itself has been transformed
to one given its meaning by cultural convention.
See codes of narrative; decode; dominant,
subordinate, radical; elite; highbrow;
semiology/semiotics.
Codes of narrative Roland Barthes in S/Z
(Blackwell, 1990; translated from the French by
Richard Miller) applies a number of narrative
codes in a book-length analysis, or decon-
struction, of a twenty-three-page short story,
Sarrasine, written by Honoré de Balzac in- Barthes describes ‘fi ve major codes under
which all the textual signifi ers can be grouped’
in a narrative. The Proiaretic or Action code
(the Voice of Empirics) tells us of events – of
what happens, and thus is instrumental in the
sequence of the story.
The code of the seme or sign (‘semantically
the unit of the signifier’) refers to character
and is categorized by Richard Howard in the
Preface to S/Z as the Semantic code (though
Barthes does not actually use this term in the
text). Barthes speaks of this as the Voice of the
Person. Under the Hermeneutic or Enigma code
(the Voice of Truth) ‘we list the various (formal)
terms by which an enigma can be distinguished,
suggested, formulated, held in suspense and
finally disclosed’. Cultural or Referential
codes ‘are references to a science or a body of
knowledge’ – ‘physical, physiological, medical,
psychological, literary, historical, etc.’. Th ese are
the Voice of Science. Finally there is the Symbolic
code, the Voice of Symbol.
Barthes writes of the codes that they ‘create a
kind of network, a topos [Greek: a place, loca-
tion] through which the entire text passes (or
rather, in passing, becomes text)’. Th is taxonomy
of codes is widely used in the analysis of texts
of all kinds. Nowhere, however, does Barthes
suggest that such coding is prescriptive or exact.
He writes, ‘Th e code is a perspective of quota-
tions, a mirage of structures; we know only its
departures and returns.’
Barthes talks of a ‘galaxy of signifi ers, not a
Cloud computing See computing: cloud
computing.
Cocktail party problem In On Human Commu-
nication (MIT Press, 1966) Colin Cherry writes,
‘One of our most important faculties is the
ability to listen to, and follow, one speaker in
the presence of others. Th is is such a common
experience that we may take it for granted; we
may call it “the cocktail party problem”. Th at is,
how do we fi lter out a barrage of communication
messages, selecting one to concentrate upon?’
Cherry experimented with two diff erent taped
readings being played at once, with the instruc-
tion to the subject to concentrate on one and
ignore the other.
Though the tapes produced a ‘complete
babel’, and though wide-ranging texts were
used, considerable success in deciphering the
message was demonstrated, illustrating the
importance of ‘our ingrained speech habits at
the acoustic, syllabic, or syntactic levels’. Cherry
and his colleagues also experimented to see
what happened when a subject was asked to
read a text out loud while simultaneously listen-
ing to another one. This process – of testing
the subject’s ability to select from competing
message channels, they called ‘shadowing’.
Code of broadcasting (UK) See ofcom: office
of communications.
Codes of advertising practice See advertis-
ing standards authority (asa); ofcom:
office of communications.
Code of semes See codes of narrative.
Codes A code is generally defi ned as a system
into which signs are organized, governed by
consent. Th e study of codes – other than those
arbitrary or fi xed codes such as mathematics,
chemical symbols, Morse Code, etc. – empha-
sizes the social dimension of communication.
We have codes of conduct, ethical, aesthetic
and language codes (see elaborated and
restricted codes).
Non-verbal communication is carried on
through what have been classified as presen-
tational codes: gesture, movement of the eyes,
expression of the face, tone of voice. A represen-
tation code can be speech, writing, music, art,
architecture, etc. Speech itself has non-verbal
characteristics: prosodic codes aff ect the mean-
ing of the words used, through expression or
pitch of voice.
Th e media are often referred to as employ-
ing broadcast and narrowcast codes in gearing
content, level and style to expected audiences.
Aesthetic codes are crucially affected by their
cultural context, some of it highly conventional,