ABSTRACT  (ENGLISH)

     
      Photography is a defining element of the semiosphere. Its technical development and the democratization of its uses have changed constantly over time. Since the 1990's, the photographic field has presented radical modifications due to the introduction of digital processing. 
      Throughout its history, the photographic phenomenon has been widely studied from diverse approaches. The present work focuses on the theoretical contributions that consider photography as a language; that started to develop since the 1960's along with various approaches that can be included under the generic rubric of poststructuralist criticism.
      The growing heteronomy of the photographic field emphasizes the need to systematize the elements that support the ability to read images. The first specific hypothesis of the present work proposes that it is through the study of the encoding procedures characteristic of the medium that the specificity of the photographic sign can be unraveled, leading  both to an immanent analysis (which allows us to answer the question of how photography signifies) and a pragmatic one, that incorporates contextual elements. 
      Continuing the above approach, the second specific hypothesis of this work is related to the recent digital change already mentioned and poses the question of whether the introduction of digital processing has resulted in the creation of a new photographic language, or if on the contrary, this contribution is more related to the uses of the image. Starting from this question, what this work unravels in its most general approach are the ways in which the digitalization of photographic processes have changed not only the expressive aspects of the photographic language, but also the extrinsic ones, that is to say, the pragmatic turn experienced by the photographic field in the last twenty years. The changes in the conception of productive and receptive activities have been so profound that the linear models of communication no longer sustain themselves and have been displaced by those that propose an immersion in a virtual space that demands an ongoing work of recomposition. 
      As a result of the above, this work is divided into three parts:
      Chapters 1 to 3 present the theoretical framework, with an emphasis on semiotics as the primary focus, although not unique. The second part, comprising chapters 4 through 6, is devoted to the immanent analysis focused on the study of photographic encoding processes. The third part, chapters 7 and 8, focuses on the study of the pragmatics of the photographic act, and it systematizes the contextual elements involved in the process of creation-reception of photographic messages, with special attention on how the digitalization processes have influenced the workflow, a fact that has stressed the pragmatic turn that encompasses the production, distribution, and consumption of photographs.
       In relation to this particular issue, the way of dealing with it is by bearing in mind the question of how digitalization has brought a change in photography as a language, which is the core matter of this research. If the pragmatic turn in theory is of our concern, that is because it is merely a reflection of what is currently taking place in the facts.