A Study Of The Signs In Chinese Dream Print Public Service Advertisements From The Perspective Of Morris's Semiotics

Since President Xi Jinping proposed the important guiding ideology of Chinese Dream in November 2012,the development of public service advertisements has been expanded into a lager theme context.With the positive educational meaning and humanistic care,Chinese Dream Print Public Service Advertisements(Chinese Dream PPSAs)have attracted the attention of the academic researchers.Previous researches on this series of PPSAs mainly focus on the contents and effects of the advertisements from the perspective of multimodality,discourse analysis,mass communication and psychology,etc.Based on Morris' s semiotics,this study intends to analyze the various signs in Chinese Dream PPSAs.Morris thinks that the signs include three dimensions: syntactics,semantics and pragmatics.Syntactics studies the form characteristics of signs or the relationships among different sign forms.Semantics discusses the relationships between the signs and their referents,that is,the meanings of signs.Pragmatics studies the relationships between the signs and their users.On that basis,42 Chinese Dream PPSAs are selected from Chinese Civilization Publicizing Website to analyze the various signs in them from the perspective of syntactics,semantics and pragmatics.Then,the unique aesthetic effects and the profound meanings of these signs as well as the instructive implications for the designers will be explored.And the following conclusions are drawn:Firstly,at syntactic level,Chinese Dream PPSAs are full of diversified signs with Chinese characteristics,such as the word signs,color signs,character signs,graph signs and so on.The application of various signs and the combinations of different signs make the series of PPSAs present the unique beauty of the form,rhetoric,color,affinity,simplicity and layout.Secondly,at semantic level,the various signs in Chinese Dream PPSAs express the profound connotations of Chinese Dream at different levels.In terms of individuals,the meanings of diligence,desire for a better life and self improvement are reflected by the signs.In terms of the society,the signs present the meanings of social stability and social harmony.In terms of the country,the signs display the national prosperity,strength and image.Thirdly,at pragmatic level,on the one hand,the designers employ festival signs,folk art signs,historical signs,auspicious signs and others in order to promote the Chinese culture and highlight the auspiciousness of Chinese Dream.On the other hand,for the audiences,the interpreters of the signs,these signs satisfy their psychological needs of pursuing reality,happiness and innovation.This study is of instructive significance for designers to create print public service advertisements(PPSAs)in respect of the form,meaning and use of signs.Syntactically,the signs should be employed to achieve the unique aesthetic effects,which can attract the audiences at first glance.Semantically,relevant signs are used to carter to the current social and cultural environment and highlight the mainstream values of the era,which can impress the audiences.Meanwhile,pragmatically,the designers ought to take the audiences' psychological needs into account in the process of designing,which can win their senses of identity.