WHAT CAN BE CALLED VISUAL SEMIOTICS?
The article considers the question of the meaning and the use of the term “visual semiotics.” The subjective scope of visual semiotics and its correlation with other areas of the Humanities is determined here. On the one hand, visual semiotics is a part of semiotics as a whole; on the other hand, it acts as a complex research area, including visual aspects of various socio-cultural (communicative) practices in its sphere. The study of the visual aspects of communication confirms the thesis about mainly pragmatic nature of the sign as an element of the communication system. The author comes to the conclusion that the term “visual semiotics” may be called multidisciplinary research field that is formed by scientific interest to visual communication, carried out in different “optically” organized forms of cultural activity.