Semiotics deal with encoding and encoding is the translation of purpose, intention or meaning into symbols or codes.

Often these symbols are the letters, numbers, and words that make up language such as English. It can also take place through photographs, musical notes, or images on motion picture films. That is according to Severin and Tankard. General Semanticists have helped to explain the process of encoding. They have tried to explain some of the characteristics of language which make encoding difficult. Alfred Korzybsky (1958) led them. His seminal work Science and sanity was popularised by Wendell Johnson. They were concerned about language and how it relates to our success everyday and our mental health. Language is static reality is dynamic. Words themselves do not change over a period of time but the world around us changes rapidly. This world around us decay faster that words. Modern biology also shows that level of constant change. Reality is a process, yet the language we must use to describe it is fixed and static. Language is Limited; Reality is Virtually Unlimited. Wendell Johnson (1972) one of the proponents of semiotics states that there limited number of words in the English dictionary which must represent millions of individual facts, experiences and relationships. In cases where people must describe others for enforcement purposes, there is always usually a problem arising because of the limited number of words or people do not pay attention to faces. Language is abstract: Abstraction is a process of selecting some details and leaving out other details. Any use of language involves some abstraction and it is one of the most useful aspects of our language because it allows us to think in categories and enables us to generalise. Because our language is limited and because we abstract and categorise, language compels us to emphasise similarities but permits us to ignore differences.

Assumptions built into Languages: The structure and vocabulary of language contain many assumptions about the nature of reality. Many are so ingrained that we are no longer aware of them. Wendell said the language we use not only puts words in our mouths but it also puts notions in our heads. Because of the nature of language, it can be misused. The General Semanticists have identified four main ones which are the Dead Level Abstracting, Undue identification, two-valued evaluation and the unconscious projection. Knowledge of these misuse of language can help reporters interviewing a news source. It is also very useful to the audience of mass communication to decipher information and misinformation. General semanticists are concerned with the relationship between language and reality and with the ways in which language influences our thinking. They provide a basis for analyzing and talking about objectivity. According to John Fiske semiotics are at the heart of the study of signs. Semiotics have three main areas of study: The sign which consists of different varieties of signs of the different ways these signs conveying meaning; The codes/systems into which signs are organised and it deals with the way a variety of codes have developed in order to meet the needs of a society or culture; and then the culture within which these codes and signs operate. Thus Semiotics deals with the text of a conversation. In semiotics the receiver, or reader is seen as playing a more active role than in most of the process models. Em Griffin adds in his book A first Look at Communication Theory says Semiotics as dealt with by Roland Barthes are phenomena that need to be read. He said it involves the possibility of making meaning out of signs. Barthes was interested in seemingly straightforward signs that communicate ideological or connotative meaning and perpetuate the dominant values of society. He described a sign as a combination of its signifier and signified.

REFERENCES Severin, Werner J. and. James W. Tankard Jr. 1992. Communication Theories: Origins Methods and Uses in the Mass Media. London: Longman Group Limited. Griffin, EM John Fiske