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The Confederate Flag: Signification And The Study Of The Confederate Flag

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Study of a Sign - The Confederate Flag

The Confederate battle flag, or simply the Confederate flag as it is now known, is the banner under which the Confederate army fought in the American Civil War. The flag bears a blue saltire (cross) emblazoned with thirteen five-pointed stars, representing the Confederate states, on a red background.

Historical, Socio-political and Cultural Background –
The Confederate flag has a complex and ever evolving history. There were three successive designs that served as the official national "flags of the Confederate States of America" (the "Confederate States" or the "Confederacy"). The Confederate States of America (CSA or C.S.), commonly referred to as the Confederacy, was a confederation of secessionist …show more content…

This process uses three main components called signifier, signified and referent. The signifier is the sequence of sounds, marks on a page or an image. The signified is the mental concept of some part of reality. The referent is the external reality which has some physical existence.
The process of signification of the Confederate flag can be explained by recognizing the aforementioned components in terms of this particular symbol as follows:
• Signifier – The image of the Confederate flag or the word itself.
• Signified – The mental concept of the Confederate flag i.e. the blue saltire on a red surface.
• Referent – The physical and concrete existence of the Confederate flag i.e. the actual flag itself.
These three components and the relationship between them create meaning of the symbol under study which is the Confederate flag.

Connotation and Denotation –
The denotation or the literal meaning associated with Confederate flag is that it was the battle flag of the Confederate army during the civil war and stands as a symbol of the Confederacy which was a confederation of secessionist American states existing from 1861 to

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