Communication Theory, Audiences and Media Context

Introduction

Media writing is not simply the production of grammatically correct sentences. It is the purposeful design of messages for particular audiences within specific social, cultural, technological and institutional contexts. A news report, public-service announcement, podcast, advertisement, social-media post and documentary may all discuss the same issue, yet each uses different conventions because each has a different purpose, audience and communication environment.

Communication theory provides concepts for explaining how messages are created, transmitted, interpreted and acted upon. It helps media professionals answer practical questions: Who is speaking? What is the intended meaning? Which medium is appropriate? How might audiences interpret the message differently? What institutional or technological forces shape what becomes visible? How can a communicator evaluate whether the message produced the desired response?

This chapter introduces major communication models and theories, including rhetoric, semiotics, framing, gatekeeping, agenda-setting, uses and gratifications, audience segmentation, personas and cultural context. The emphasis is both conceptual and professional: theories are treated as tools for planning, producing, analysing and evaluating media content.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this chapter, students should be able to:

1. Explain the basic elements and limitations of major communication models.
2. Apply rhetorical appeals and semiotic analysis to media messages.
3. Distinguish framing, gatekeeping and agenda-setting.
4. Explain how audiences actively select, interpret and respond to media.
5. Segment audiences and construct evidence-based audience personas.
6. Analyse how culture, identity, power and context influence meaning.
7. Define a message purpose, target audience and intended response for a media project.
8. Evaluate ethical and professional issues in audience research and content design.

1. Communication as Meaning-Making

Communication is a process through which people and institutions create, share and interpret meanings. It may be intentional or unintentional, verbal or non-verbal, interpersonal or mass-mediated. A communicator may intend to inform, persuade, entertain, mobilise, reassure, challenge or sell. However, intended meaning is not identical to received meaning. Audiences interpret messages through prior knowledge, expectations, identities, emotions and social experience.

A useful distinction is between message, medium, context and response. The message is the symbolic content; the medium is the channel or technological form through which it is distributed; context includes the circumstances surrounding production and reception; and response includes cognitive, emotional, behavioural and social effects.

Communication is also relational. Meaning develops through interaction between communicators, audiences and social institutions. A media organisation does not communicate in a vacuum. Its choices may be influenced by professional norms, ownership, advertising, regulation, algorithms, deadlines and assumptions about audiences.

The communication event

Most communication events include the following elements:

• Source or communicator: the person, group or institution initiating a message.
• Encoding: translating ideas into language, images, sounds, symbols or design.
• Message: the organised content being communicated.
• Medium or channel: the means of distribution, such as print, radio, television, websites or social platforms.
• Receiver or audience: the people who encounter and interpret the message.
• Decoding: assigning meaning to the message.
• Feedback: responses that return information to the communicator.
• Noise: anything that interferes with communication.
• Context: the social, cultural, political, economic and technological environment.

Noise may be physical, such as poor audio; semantic, such as unfamiliar terminology; psychological, such as distrust; or institutional, such as censorship or a restrictive editorial policy.

Figure: An interactive communication model. Communication is shaped by context and can generate feedback rather than moving in only one direction.

No model fully captures communication. Models simplify reality so that particular relationships can be examined. The linear model is useful for analysing one-way announcements, but it underrepresents feedback and audience interpretation. Interactive and transactional models better describe digital communication, where users comment, remix, share and create content themselves.

2. Major Communication Models

The linear model

The linear model represents communication as a one-way sequence from source to receiver. Harold Lasswell’s influential formulation asks: “Who says what, in which channel, to whom, with what effect?” This model is useful for campaign planning because it encourages attention to communicator, content, channel, audience and outcome. Its weakness is that it may imply passive audiences and a predictable effect.

The Shannon–Weaver model developed communication as a technical process involving information source, transmitter, signal, channel, receiver and destination, with noise affecting transmission. Although developed for telecommunications, its concept of noise remains useful in media production. A confusing headline, poor translation, inaccessible design or unreliable internet connection can all interfere with communication.

The interactional model

The interactional model adds feedback. Audiences can respond through letters, ratings, comments, calls, shares, subscriptions, purchases or political action. Feedback may be immediate, delayed, direct or indirect. A television producer may receive audience feedback through ratings weeks after broadcast, while a social-media creator may receive comments within seconds.

The transactional model

The transactional model sees communication as simultaneous and continuous. Participants send and interpret verbal and non-verbal signals at the same time. Meaning is influenced by relationships, identities, cultural rules and the immediate situation. This model is particularly relevant to interviews, live broadcasts, influencer communication and online communities.

3. Rhetoric: Designing Persuasive Messages

Rhetoric is the systematic use of symbols to influence beliefs, attitudes or actions. Aristotle identified three classical appeals:

• Ethos: credibility, authority and character of the communicator.
• Pathos: emotional appeal and the audience’s feelings.
• Logos: reasoning, evidence and argument.

Effective professional communication often combines all three. A public-health message may use an expert source to establish ethos, statistics to provide logos and a personal story to create pathos. The balance depends on purpose and audience. Emotional appeal without evidence may manipulate; evidence without accessible explanation may fail to engage; authority without transparency may produce distrust.

Rhetorical analysis also considers audience, purpose, timing and constraints. Kairos refers to appropriateness or timeliness: a message may be accurate but ineffective if released at the wrong moment or in an unsuitable form. A crisis statement, for example, requires speed, clarity, accountability and sensitivity.

A practical rhetorical planning sequence is:

1. Define the communication purpose.
2. Identify the audience’s knowledge, concerns and likely objections.
3. Establish the central claim or proposition.
4. Select appropriate evidence and examples.
5. Choose a credible voice and suitable emotional register.
6. Anticipate alternative interpretations.
7. Specify the desired response.

Rhetoric is not limited to advertising or political speech. Headlines, story order, image selection, captions, music, typography and interface design all influence interpretation.

4. Semiotics: How Signs Produce Meaning

Semiotics is the study of signs and sign systems. A sign is anything that communicates meaning by standing for something else. Words, photographs, colours, gestures, sounds, logos and clothing can operate as signs.

Ferdinand de Saussure distinguished between the signifier, the perceptible form of a sign, and the signified, the concept associated with it. The relationship between signifier and signified is generally conventional rather than natural. For example, the word “freedom” is a signifier whose meaning depends on language and cultural interpretation.

Charles Sanders Peirce classified signs as:

• Icon: resembles its referent, such as a photograph or map.
• Index: has a direct or causal connection, such as smoke indicating fire or a footprint indicating presence.
• Symbol: depends on social convention, such as a national flag or a written word.

Most media messages contain all three. A road-safety advertisement may use an image of a damaged vehicle as an icon, tire marks as an index and a red warning triangle as a symbol.

Semiotic analysis can operate at two levels. Denotation refers to the apparent or literal content of a sign. Connotation refers to associated cultural, emotional or ideological meanings. A photograph of a politician standing in front of a national flag denotes a person and a flag; it may connote patriotism, authority or national legitimacy. These meanings are not universal. Audiences may interpret the same symbol differently according to history, religion, class, gender, region or political experience.

Media professionals should ask:

• What signs are present and what do they literally show?
• What associations do they invite?
• Which cultural codes are assumed?
• Who is represented, omitted or stereotyped?
• How do text, image, sound and layout reinforce or contradict each other?

5. Framing, Gatekeeping and Agenda-Setting

Framing

Framing is the selection and emphasis of aspects of reality in order to promote a particular definition of a problem, explanation of causes, moral evaluation or proposed solution. A news story about unemployment can frame the issue as an economic cycle, an individual responsibility problem, a consequence of government policy or a result of global market change. Each frame draws attention to different facts and possible responses.

Frames may appear through vocabulary, sources, headlines, visuals, story placement, statistics and narrative structure. “Protesters” and “rioters,” for example, may refer to overlapping events but invite different evaluations. Framing does not necessarily mean deliberate deception; selection is unavoidable in finite media formats. Ethical practice requires that selection should be proportionate, evidence-based and open to relevant perspectives.

Gatekeeping

Gatekeeping refers to the processes through which information is selected, edited, prioritised or excluded before reaching audiences. Editors, producers, platform designers, public-relations professionals, moderators, algorithms and users can all act as gatekeepers.

Traditional gatekeeping may involve editorial decisions about newsworthiness, available space, legal risk and deadlines. Digital media have not eliminated gatekeeping; they have distributed and partly automated it. Search rankings, recommendation systems, moderation rules and engagement metrics affect visibility. Users also gatekeep when they choose what to share or ignore.

Gatekeeping raises questions of power and accountability. Who has access to publication? Which sources are considered credible? Are marginalised groups included only as victims, or also as experts and decision-makers? Are algorithms transparent? Good editorial practice documents significant selection decisions and avoids presenting institutional preference as neutral inevitability.

Agenda-setting

Agenda-setting theory proposes that media may influence what audiences consider important by giving some issues greater visibility and repetition. It does not claim that media simply tell people what to think; rather, media can influence what people think about and which issues appear urgent.

Agenda-setting operates at several levels. First-level agenda-setting concerns issue salience: which topics receive attention. Second-level agenda-setting concerns attribute salience: which characteristics of an issue or person are emphasised. In contemporary media, agenda-setting is shared among news organisations, governments, activists, celebrities, platforms and networked publics.

Framing, gatekeeping and agenda-setting are related but distinct:

6. Audiences: From Masses to Active Participants

Early mass-communication thinking sometimes portrayed audiences as large, anonymous and passive recipients. Contemporary audience research treats audiences as differentiated, active and socially situated. People may select content for information, entertainment, identity, social connection or escape. They may interpret the same content in contrasting ways and may produce, remix or circulate media themselves.

The uses and gratifications approach focuses on what audiences do with media. Common gratifications include:

• information and surveillance;
• personal identity and self-understanding;
• social integration and conversation;
• entertainment and mood management;
• escape or relaxation;
• participation and creative expression.

The approach is valuable because it begins with audience needs rather than assuming uniform effects. However, it can understate structural power, commercial influence and unequal access. A user may choose a platform, but that choice is shaped by available devices, social pressure, platform design and economic conditions.

Audience response may be examined at several levels:

• Cognitive: attention, knowledge, understanding and belief.
• Affective: feeling, identification, enjoyment or anger.
• Behavioural: clicking, sharing, subscribing, donating, voting or changing conduct.
• Social: discussion, community formation, collective action or conflict.

A media professional should not treat a metric as a complete measure of effect. A high number of views may indicate exposure but not comprehension, trust or behavioural change. A thoughtful evaluation combines quantitative indicators with qualitative evidence such as interviews, comments, usability testing or focus groups.

7. Audience Segmentation and Personas

Audience segmentation divides a broad potential audience into groups with meaningful similarities. Common bases include:

• Demographic: age, gender, income, education and occupation.
• Geographic: country, region, city, neighbourhood or climate zone.
• Psychographic: values, interests, lifestyles and attitudes.
• Behavioural: media use, purchase behaviour, participation and frequency.
• Contextual or needs-based: situation, problem, motivation and barriers.
• Cultural: language, ethnicity, religion, community affiliation and communication norms.

Segmentation is useful only when it supports a communication decision. A segment should be identifiable, reachable, sufficiently substantial, relevant to the purpose and ethically describable. Avoid assuming that demographic categories predict beliefs or behaviour automatically.

A persona is a research-informed representation of a priority audience member. It should not be a fictional stereotype. A useful persona may include:

• a pseudonym and brief life context;
• relevant goals and needs;
• media habits and preferred formats;
• knowledge level;
• barriers, concerns and motivations;
• cultural and linguistic considerations;
• likely response to the message;
• accessibility requirements;
• evidence supporting the profile.

For example, an illustrative persona for a campus mental-health campaign might be “Aisha,” a 20-year-old commuter student who uses short-form video, distrusts institutional language, values privacy and needs to know whether seeking help will affect her academic record. This persona suggests a message that is concise, confidential, multilingual where appropriate and explicit about available support. It does not imply that all students share Aisha’s characteristics.

Personas should be tested against research. Useful evidence includes audience surveys, analytics interpreted cautiously, interviews, observation, social listening, accessibility audits and pilot testing. Personas should be revised when evidence changes.

8. Culture, Identity and Media Context

Culture provides shared but contested systems of meaning. It influences what is considered respectful, persuasive, humorous, credible, private or offensive. Context also includes social position and power. Age, gender, disability, class, race, religion, sexuality, language and nationality may influence both media access and interpretation.

High-context communication often relies more heavily on shared background, implication and relational understanding. Low-context communication tends to make information more explicit. These categories are broad tendencies, not fixed descriptions of every individual or society. A professional communicator should research the actual audience rather than relying on cultural stereotypes.

Translation is not merely word substitution. Humour, idioms, politeness, visual symbolism and references may not transfer directly. Localisation adapts content to language, cultural expectations, legal conditions and practical circumstances. Accessibility is also part of context. Captions, transcripts, readable contrast, alternative text, plain language and compatible formats allow more people to participate.

Representation has ethical consequences. Repeatedly associating particular groups with crime, dependence or incompetence can reinforce stigma. Inclusive writing uses precise descriptions, avoids unnecessary labels, seeks informed perspectives and distinguishes an individual case from a general claim.

9. From Theory to a Media Brief

Theories become professionally useful when translated into decisions. A concise media brief should answer:

1. Purpose: What communication problem or opportunity is being addressed?
2. Objective: What should the audience know, feel or do?
3. Audience: Which priority group is being addressed, and why?
4. Insight: What relevant need, tension or motivation has research identified?
5. Key message: What single proposition should remain after exposure?
6. Evidence: What facts, voices or demonstrations support it?
7. Frame: Which aspects are emphasised, and what interpretations must be avoided?
8. Format and channel: Which medium fits audience behaviour and message complexity?
9. Tone and style: What voice will establish credibility and connection?
10. Response and evaluation: What evidence will show whether the objective was achieved?

A strong objective is specific about the intended response. “Raise awareness” is incomplete unless awareness is defined and measured. A more useful objective might be: “After viewing a two-minute video, first-year students should be able to identify two confidential counselling options and know how to book an appointment.”

Worked planning example

Suppose a university wants to increase participation in emergency-preparedness training. Research shows that students believe training is useful but assume it will be time-consuming. The purpose is therefore not simply to provide information; it is to correct a perceived cost barrier.

• Audience: first-year residential students.
• Need: quick, practical guidance and reassurance that beginners are welcome.
• Frame: preparedness as an ordinary form of community care rather than a response to panic.
• Message: “Learn three actions in 20 minutes that can help protect your residence community.”
• Medium: a short mobile video supported by residence posters and a sign-up link.
• Rhetoric: student testimonials for ethos, a demonstration for logos and a scenario for pathos.
• Semiotics: familiar residence spaces and diverse students to signal relevance and inclusion.
• Evaluation: registrations, attendance, completion rate and a brief knowledge check.

The example illustrates how audience insight, framing, rhetoric, semiotics and evaluation operate together.

10. Case Study: Reframing a Public-Service Campaign

The following is an illustrative case, not a report of an actual organisation.

Background

A city health department launches a campaign encouraging young adults to test regularly for a communicable disease. The initial campaign uses medical terminology, photographs of clinical facilities and a warning-focused slogan.

Problem

The campaign receives substantial online exposure but few appointment bookings. Audience interviews reveal that young adults understand the health risk but associate testing with shame, fear of judgement and uncertainty about confidentiality. Some do not recognise the medical terminology used in the advertisements.

Analysis

The original campaign has a rational information strategy but an ineffective frame. It treats the issue primarily as an individual medical responsibility and assumes that awareness will lead directly to action. Its visual codes connote illness and institutional authority rather than privacy and support. The gatekeeping process also privileges official medical voices while giving little space to audience concerns.

Uses-and-gratifications analysis suggests that the audience seeks reassurance, practical information and control over personal decisions. A rhetorical analysis indicates that the department has institutional ethos, but its pathos produces anxiety rather than constructive motivation. Cultural research shows that translated versions must address different expressions of privacy and family involvement.

Approach and solution

The revised campaign:

• uses plain language and explains confidentiality;
• replaces a fear-based frame with a care-and-control frame;
• includes peer voices alongside clinicians;
• offers a short booking pathway through mobile devices;
• uses captions, translations and accessible contrast;
• presents testing as routine preventive care;
• provides alternative formats for people with limited digital access.

The creative team develops short videos showing ordinary situations in which characters decide to test. The narrative does not disclose private diagnoses or imply that one group is responsible for transmission. A clear call to action links to appointment times and explains what will happen during the visit.

Outcome

In the pilot phase, exposure remains similar, but appointment-page completion and attendance increase. Interviews indicate improved understanding of confidentiality and reduced perceived stigma. The department continues monitoring whether the campaign reaches groups with limited internet access and whether language versions preserve meaning rather than merely translating words.

Learning points

1. Exposure is not the same as persuasion or action.
2. A message frame can create barriers even when its facts are accurate.
3. Audience research can reveal emotional and practical obstacles.
4. Credibility is strengthened when institutional and lived experience are combined responsibly.
5. Ethical communication avoids stigma, protects privacy and provides an achievable response.

11. Digital Media, Algorithms and AI

Digital platforms alter the relationship between producers and audiences. Content can be personalised, measured and circulated rapidly. Recommendation systems may increase relevance, but they can also narrow exposure, amplify sensational material or reproduce historical bias. Engagement metrics may reward emotional intensity rather than public value.

Artificial intelligence can assist with transcription, translation, accessibility checks, topic clustering and drafting alternatives. However, AI-generated content may contain factual errors, fabricated sources, cultural insensitivity, hidden bias or inappropriate imitation of a person’s style. Professional responsibility remains with the communicator and organisation. Human review, source verification, disclosure where appropriate, privacy protection and secure handling of data are essential.

Audience data should be collected proportionately and used for a stated purpose. Consent, data minimisation, retention limits and protection from discriminatory profiling are central governance principles. A platform’s ability to target audiences does not make every form of targeting ethical. Sensitive attributes and inferred vulnerabilities require particular caution.

12. Limitations and Critical Evaluation

Communication theories are explanatory tools, not universal laws. The same message may produce different results because of prior beliefs, social identity, competing media, timing and chance. Agenda-setting research can show relationships between media attention and public concern without proving a simple one-way cause. Uses-and-gratifications research may overemphasise individual choice. Framing analysis can identify patterns but may depend on the analyst’s interpretation. Segmentation can improve relevance but can also oversimplify identity or enable discriminatory targeting.

Media professionals should therefore triangulate evidence. Combine content analysis with audience research, behavioural data with qualitative feedback, and short-term metrics with longer-term outcomes. Ask not only whether a message performed well, but for whom, under what conditions and with what consequences.

Ethical practice requires truthfulness, fairness, transparency, accountability and respect for autonomy. These principles include correcting errors, distinguishing fact from opinion, avoiding deceptive editing, protecting vulnerable sources, obtaining consent where appropriate and considering foreseeable harms. Effective communication is not merely communication that achieves an organisational goal; it is communication that achieves legitimate goals without unjustifiable harm.

Best-Practice Checklist

Before publishing or distributing content, ask:

• Is the purpose explicit?
• Is the priority audience based on evidence rather than assumption?
• Does the message have one clear central proposition?
• Are the frame and emotional tone appropriate?
• Have language, images and symbols been checked for cultural meaning?
• Are sources credible and claims verifiable?
• Is the content accessible across relevant formats?
• Could the message stereotype, stigmatise or expose private information?
• Is the desired response realistic and easy to complete?
• How will success and unintended effects be evaluated?

Chapter Summary

Communication is a contextual process of encoding, transmitting, interpreting and responding to symbolic messages. Linear models clarify source, message, channel and effect; interactive and transactional models emphasise feedback, simultaneous interpretation and relationships. Rhetoric explains how ethos, pathos, logos and kairos contribute to persuasion. Semiotics shows how signs communicate denotative and cultural meanings.

Gatekeeping concerns selection and exclusion, agenda-setting concerns the salience of issues and framing concerns the way problems, causes, values and solutions are presented. Audiences are not uniform or entirely passive: uses-and-gratifications theory highlights their needs, choices and participation. Segmentation and personas help communicators design relevant content, but they must be grounded in evidence and used ethically.

Culture, identity, language, accessibility, institutions and technology shape both production and interpretation. A professional media brief connects purpose, audience insight, message, frame, medium, tone and evaluation. Digital platforms and AI create opportunities for personalisation and efficiency while increasing responsibilities concerning bias, privacy, transparency and accountability. The central professional task is to create messages that are clear, credible, culturally aware, accessible and ethically responsible.

Key Terms

Agenda-setting: The process by which media attention influences the perceived importance of issues.

Audience segmentation: Dividing a broad audience into groups with relevant similarities.

Encoding: Converting ideas into words, images, sounds or other symbols.

Ethos: Persuasive appeal based on credibility or character.

Feedback: A response that provides information about audience interpretation or behaviour.

Framing: Selecting and emphasising aspects of reality to shape interpretation.

Gatekeeping: Selecting, editing, prioritising or excluding information before distribution.

Icon: A sign that resembles what it represents.

Index: A sign connected to its referent through evidence or causation.

Kairos: The appropriateness or timeliness of a rhetorical message.

Logos: Persuasive appeal based on reasoning and evidence.

Noise: Interference that disrupts communication.

Pathos: Persuasive appeal based on emotion.

Persona: A research-informed representation of a priority audience member.

Semiotics: The study of signs and meaning-making.

Signified: The concept associated with a signifier.

Signifier: The perceptible form of a sign.

Transactional model: A model viewing communication as simultaneous, continuous and contextual.

Uses and gratifications: An approach examining the needs audiences seek to satisfy through media use.

Review Questions

5 Short Answer Questions

1. What is the difference between encoding and decoding?
2. Define gatekeeping and give one example from digital media.
3. What are ethos, pathos and logos?
4. Distinguish denotation from connotation.
5. Why should a persona be based on research rather than stereotype?

5 Long Answer Questions

1. Compare linear, interactive and transactional communication models and explain the professional value of each.
2. Explain how framing and agenda-setting can influence public understanding of an issue.
3. Discuss the uses-and-gratifications approach and evaluate its strengths and limitations.
4. Explain how culture and identity affect the interpretation of media messages.
5. Describe how a media professional can develop and evaluate an audience-centred media brief.

3 Analytical / Application Questions

1. Select a current public-service message and analyse its rhetoric, semiotic codes and frame. Explain how these choices may affect at least two audience groups.
2. Design a segmentation and persona strategy for a university campaign encouraging students to use a new digital learning service. Justify the variables, message and channel.
3. A news organisation receives criticism that its coverage of a protest uses a conflict-oriented frame. Analyse the issue using gatekeeping, framing and agenda-setting, then recommend an ethical editorial approach.

Multiple Choice Questions with Answers

Question 1

Which element of communication converts an idea into words, images, sounds or symbols?

A. Decoding

B. Encoding

C. Feedback

D. Noise

Correct Answer: B. Encoding

Question 2

A photograph used in a media message is primarily what type of sign in Peirce’s classification?

A. Icon

B. Index

C. Symbol

D. Frame

Correct Answer: A. Icon

Question 3

Which concept refers to selecting and emphasising aspects of reality to shape interpretation?

A. Gatekeeping

B. Framing

C. Feedback

D. Segmentation

Correct Answer: B. Framing

Question 4

A news organisation’s decision to give one issue repeated prominent coverage most directly illustrates:

A. Agenda-setting

B. Encoding

C. Psychographic segmentation

D. Noise

Correct Answer: A. Agenda-setting

Question 5

Which rhetorical appeal depends primarily on the communicator’s credibility?

A. Pathos

B. Logos

C. Ethos

D. Kairos

Correct Answer: C. Ethos

Question 6

Which example best represents behavioural audience response?

A. Remembering a campaign slogan

B. Feeling concern after viewing a video

C. Discussing a story with a friend

D. Registering for the advertised workshop

Correct Answer: D. Registering for the advertised workshop

Question 7

What is the main purpose of audience segmentation?

A. To ensure every audience member receives identical content

B. To divide audiences into groups relevant to communication decisions

C. To eliminate the need for audience research

D. To replace editorial judgement with demographic data

Correct Answer: B. To divide audiences into groups relevant to communication decisions

Question 8

Which statement best describes uses-and-gratifications theory?

A. Audiences always respond to media in the same way

B. Media institutions completely determine audience beliefs

C. Audiences select media to satisfy particular needs and motives

D. Only news content produces meaningful effects

Correct Answer: C. Audiences select media to satisfy particular needs and motives

Question 9

Which practice is most appropriate when using AI to assist with media content?

A. Publishing generated claims without checking them

B. Allowing the system to infer sensitive traits for all users

C. Using human review, verification and privacy safeguards

D. Treating algorithmic recommendations as culturally neutral

Correct Answer: C. Using human review, verification and privacy safeguards

Question 10

A campaign changes from a fear-based message to one emphasising privacy, care and control. This is primarily a change in its:

A. Frame

B. Transmission noise

C. Audience size

D. Iconic signifier

Correct Answer: A. Frame