INFLUENCE OF THE VISUAL SEMIOTICS OF MEDIA AND THE SOCIO-CULTURAL CHANGES OF THE RURAL MASSES IN SRI LANKA (A SOCIOLOGICAL ANALYSIS) Dr. Dharma Keerthi Sri Ranjan Faculty of Mass Media / Center for Media Research (CMR), Sri Palee Campus, University of Colombo, Horana, Sri Lanka. ranjan@spc.cmb.ac.lk / ranjan2007@gmail.com Abstract The concepts of semiotics and visual communication in the media landscape have become popular themes in the 21 st century. These have formed a new conceptual and theoretical frame as a new carrier in the field of social sciences. The masses experience the world predominantly through perspectives. Unique power of the vision of the man constructs the visual perception through worldly matters and discerns the meaning and notices the differences between them. Signs and symbols are influential in visual communication and they can be described denotative and connotative . Syntactic,...