semiotics; semiology
Academic term for the study of signs and symbols and their use or interpretation.
記号学は言語だけでなく、あらゆる記号を研究対象とする。
Semiotics studies not only language but all kinds of signs.
Compound of 記号 (sign, symbol) and 学 (study, -ology). The exact historical derivation is uncertain; the term is a modern academic coinage.