The Motivated Sign

The Motivated Sign

Author: Olga Fischer

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing

Published: 2001-01-01

Total Pages: 412

ISBN-13: 9789027225740

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This volume, a sequel to Form Miming Meaning (1999), offers a selection of papers given at the second international symposium on iconicity (Amsterdam 1999). In the light of semiotic, linguistic and literary theory the studies gathered here investigate how iconicity works on all levels of language, in literary texts and other forms of verbal discourse. They investigate, among other subjects, the semiotic foundations of iconicity, the role played by iconicity in language evolution and in the way words are positioned syntactically. Special consideration is given to the iconic nature of metaphor and the 'mise en abyme', to iconically motivated punctuation and other typographic matters such as the manipulation of colour, fonts and spacing in advertising and in poetry. Other studies show how iconicity influences Shakespeare's rhetoric, the structural design of Margaret Atwood's writings and the changing fashions in fictional landscape description. Thus, these analyses of 'the motivated sign' represent yet another strong challenge to “Saussure's dogma of arbitrariness” (Jakobson).


The Motivated Syntax of Arbitrary Signs

The Motivated Syntax of Arbitrary Signs

Author: Erica C. Garcia

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 353

ISBN-13: 9027215707

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This detailed study challenges the claim that syntax is arbitrary and autonomous, as well as the assumption that Spanish clitic clusters constitute grammaticalized units. Diverse--apparently unrelated--restrictions on clitic clustering in both simplex VP's and Accusative cum Infinitive structures are shown to be cognitively motivated, given the meaning of the individual clitics, and the compositional/interpretative routines those meanings motivate. The analysis accounts, in coherent and principled fashion, for the absolute non-occurrence of some clusters, and the interpretation-dependent acceptability of all remaining clitic combinations: cluster acceptability depends on the ease with which the given clitic combination can be processed to yield a congruent message; there is no point in combining clitics whose meanings preclude speedy processing of the cluster. The monograph goes beyond previous work on Spanish clitics in its wealth of data, the range of syntactic phenomena discussed, and its analytic scope.


Elements of Semiology

Elements of Semiology

Author: Roland Barthes

Publisher: Macmillan

Published: 1968

Total Pages: 116

ISBN-13: 9780374521462

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"In his Course in General Linguistics, first published in 1916, Saussure postulated the existence of a general science of signs, or Semiology, of which linguistics would form only one part. Semiology, therefore aims to take in any system of signs, whatever their substance and limits; images, gestures, musical sounds, objects, and the complex associations of all these, which form the content of ritual, convention or public entertainment: these constitute, if not languages, at least systems of signification . . . The Elements here presented have as their sole aim the extraction from linguistics of analytical concepts which we think a priori to be sufficiently general to start semiological research on its way. In assembling them, it is not presupposed that they will remain intact during the course of research; nor that semiology will always be forced to follow the linguistic model closely. We are merely suggesting and elucidating a terminology in the hope that it may enable an initial (albeit provisional) order to be introduced into the heterogeneous mass of significant facts. In fact what we purport to do is furnish a principle of classification of the questions. These elements of semiology will therefore be grouped under four main headings borrowed from structural linguistics: I. Language and Speech; II. Signified and Signifier; III. Syntagm and System; IV. Denotation and Connotation."--Roland Barthes, from his Introduction


Culture and Practical Reason

Culture and Practical Reason

Author: Marshall Sahlins

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2013-11-22

Total Pages: 267

ISBN-13: 022616179X

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"The main thrust of this book is to deliver a major critique of materialist and rationalist explanations of social and cultural forms, but the in the process Sahlins has given us a much stronger statement of the centrality of symbols in human affairs than have many of our 'practicing' symbolic anthropologists. He demonstrates that symbols enter all phases of social life: those which we tend to regard as strictly pragmatic, or based on concerns with material need or advantage, as well as those which we tend to view as purely symbolic, such as ideology, ritual, myth, moral codes, and the like. . . ."—Robert McKinley, Reviews in Anthropology


Die tand van die tyd

Die tand van die tyd

Author: Marn‚ Pienaar

Publisher: AFRICAN SUN MeDIA

Published: 2009-11-01

Total Pages: 231

ISBN-13: 1920338136

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Jac Conradie se intreerede as professor aan die Universiteit van Johannesburg het as titel ?Die tand van die tyd? gehad. Die bydraes in hierdie bundel weerspie‰l iets van Jac se veelsydigheid en van sy impak op die akademie. Bydraes uit Europa, Noord-Amerika en Afrika deur taalkundiges, letterkundiges en historici getuig van die respek wat Jac oor ?n wye akademiese front afdwing. As die huldiging van ?n loopbaan, van ?n wetenskaplike, maar ook van ?n wellewende mens, kan hierdie bundel nie genoegsaam wees nie, maar dit is ?n aanduiding van die waardering en ho‰ agting wat akademici die wˆreld oor vir Jac het


Graphic Design Discourse

Graphic Design Discourse

Author: Henry Hongmin Kim

Publisher: Chronicle Books

Published: 2018-03-20

Total Pages: 459

ISBN-13: 1616896728

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If the aim of graphic design is to communicate meaning clearly, there's an irony that the field itself has struggled between two contradictory opposites: rote design resulting from a rigorous, fixed set of rules, and eccentric design that expresses the hand of the artist but fails to communicate with its audience. But what if designers focused on process and critical analysis over visual outcome? Through a carefully selected collection of more than seventy-five seminal texts spanning centuries and bridging the disciplines of art, architecture, design history, philosophy, and cultural theory, Graphic Design Discourse: Evolving Theories, Ideologies, and Processes of Visual Communication establishes a new paradigm for graphic design methodologies for the twenty-first century. This illuminating anthology is essential reading for practicing designers, educators, and students trying to understand how to design in a singular, expressive way without forgoing clear and concise visual communication.


A Level Media Studies

A Level Media Studies

Author: Pete Bennett

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2019-07-09

Total Pages: 372

ISBN-13: 1351976982

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A Level Media Studies is a comprehensive guide to the subject content of AS and A Level Media Studies, across all examining boards. It is specifically designed to meet the needs of both students and teachers with an accessible writing style, helpful notes on key theories and theorists and a range of learning exercises. The book’s overall approach is gradual immersion, assuming no prior knowledge of the subject. Starting with an overview of the discipline, the book moves on to develop increasingly sophisticated ideas whilst repeatedly reinforcing the basic principles of media studies. Each component of media studies is illustrated with practical examples and guided exercises that demonstrate the application of theories and concepts. In addition, numerous case studies offer examples of media studies in practice. Working through these examples, students will acquire the skill set and confidence to tackle the analysis of media products and the discussion of media issues to the standard required at A Level. The focus is on contemporary media, but there is also full acknowledgement of historical precedents, as well as the significance of social, cultural, political and economic contexts. With its clear structure and integrative approach, A Level Media Studies is the ideal introductory resource for students and teachers.


Recharting Media Studies

Recharting Media Studies

Author: Philip Bounds

Publisher: Peter Lang

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 326

ISBN-13: 9783039110155

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Scholars in Media Studies increasingly take the view that our understanding of the history of the discipline is deeply inadequate. It is now widely recognised that a large number of important media analysts have simply been omitted from the standard histories. This book aims to fill in some of the gaps by examining the work of eleven neglected writers, each of whom has made a seminal contribution to the analysis of the media but whose work rarely appears in student textbooks, anthologies and readers. In keeping with the interdisciplinary ambitions of contemporary Media Studies, the selected thinkers are drawn from a wide range of historical periods and intellectual backgrounds. There are chapters on sociologists, creative writers, cultural theorists, art critics, journalists and even ancient Greek philosophers. The aims of the book are by no means purely antiquarian. The contributors believe that a revival of interest in the work of their chosen writers can go a long way towards revitalising Media Studies, especially by (1) drawing attention to a variety of theoretical and methodological approaches which have yet to be adequately exploited, (2) suggesting new areas of research, and (3) transforming our understanding of the historical development of Media Studies.


From Sign to Signing

From Sign to Signing

Author: Wolfgang G. Müller

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing

Published: 2003-01-30

Total Pages: 457

ISBN-13: 9027296316

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This volume, a sequel to Form Miming Meaning (1999) and The Motivated Sign (2001), offers a selection of papers given at the Third International Symposium on Iconicity in Language and Literature (Jena 2001). The studies collected here present a number of new departures. Special consideration is given to the way non-linguistic visual and auditory signs (such as gestures and bird sounds) are represented in language, and more specifically in ‘signed’ language, and how such signs influence semantic conceptualization. Other studies examine more closely how visual signs and representations of time and space are incorporated or reflected in literary language, in fiction as well as (experimental) poetry. A further new approach concerns intermedial iconicity, which emerges in art when its medium is changed or another medium is imitated. A more abstract, diagrammatic type of iconicity is again investigated, with reference to both language and literature: some essays focus on the device of reduplication, isomorphic tendencies in word formation and on creative iconic patterns in syntax, while others explore numerical design in Dante and geometrical patterning in Dylan Thomas. A number of theoretically-oriented papers pursue post-Peircean approaches, such as the application of reader-response theory and of systems theory to iconicity.


Multimodal Teaching and Learning

Multimodal Teaching and Learning

Author: Gunther Kress

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2014-09-11

Total Pages: 249

ISBN-13: 1472571053

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This book takes a radically different look at communication, and in doing so presents a series of challenges to accepted views on language, on communication, on teaching and, above all, on learning. Drawing on extensive research in science classrooms, it presents a view of communication in which language is not necessarily communication - image, gesture, speech, writing, models, spatial and bodily codes. The action of students in learning is radically rethought: all participants in communication are seen as active transformers of the meaning resources around them, and this approach opens a new window on the processes of learning.