The notion of articulation is, in short,

a way of dividing a semiotic system into basic

levels:
in the case of verbal language the levels can be
termed those of sound and meaning.The term
articulation, as used by semioticians with
reference to 'code structure', was derived from
Andrй Martinet's structural linguistics.
• A message is articulated if it can be broken down into
elements which are themselves significant. All semiotic
elements must be significant.
• Example: the lorry on the traffic sign can be broken
down into wheels, chassis, cabin, etc., but the presence
of these elements does not modify the sign. On the
other hand, the absence of a jacket or its permutation
with a jersey changes the significance of the way
someone is dressed. (Guiraud 1975, 32)
Following the model of verbal language, an articulated
code has a 'vocabulary' of basic units together with
syntactical rules which can be used to generate larger
meaningful combinations (Innis 1986, 88-9, 99-102).
• Semiotic codes have either single articulation, double articulation
or no articulation.
• At the level of first articulation the system consists of the smallest
meaningful units available (e.g. morphemes or words in a
language).
• At the level of second articulation, a semiotic code is divisible into
minimal functional units which lack meaning in themselves (e.g.
phonemes in speech or graphemes in writing).
• These purely differential structural units (called figurae by
Hjelmslev) are recurrent features in the code. They are not signs in
themselves. In a code with both levels (a 'double articulated'
system) the function of these lower units is purely to differentiate
the minimal meaningful units.
• Double articulation does not seem to occur in the natural
communication systems of animals other than humans.
• Some codes have first articulation only. These semiotic
systems consist of signs - meaningful elements which are
systematically related to each other - but there is no second
articulation to structure these signs into minimal, non-
meaningful elements.
• Other semiotic codes lacking double articulation have
second articulation only. These consist of signs which have
specific meanings which are not derived from their
elements. (the binary code of information theory)
• Codes without articulation consist of a series of signs
bearing no direct relation to each other. These signs are not
divisible into recurrent compositional elements. (the
folkloristic 'language of flowers')