Semiotics in the United States
Semiotics in the United States

Author: Thomas A. Sebeok

Publisher: Indiana University Press

Published: 1991-09-22

Total Pages: 220

ISBN-13: 9780253115300

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"As a glimpse onto U.S. American semiotics through the mind's eye of a witness, participant-observer, architect, and midwife, this slim but rich book fulfills its title." -- Journal of Linguistic Anthropology "This book is an invaluable historical, conceptual, and anecdotal account of the rise of semiotics in the United States." -- Review of Metaphysics Sebeok, who has done more to establish the field of semiotics in the United States than any other single scholar, here draws upon his personal experiences of half a century to present the achievement and current status of semiotics in this country. He focuses on salient individuals and intellectual issues, including theatre, television, folklore, sociology, tourism, and graphic design. He also examines semiotic applications to architecture, marketing and advertising, jurisprudence, and medicine.

Global Semiotics
Global Semiotics

Author: Thomas A. Sebeok

Publisher: Indiana University Press

Published: 2001

Total Pages: 274

ISBN-13: 9780253339577

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The study of semiotics underwent a gradual but radical paradigm shift during the past century, from a glottocentric (language-centered) enterprise to one that encompasses the whole terrestrial biosphere. In this collection of 17 essays, Thomas A. Sebeok, one of the seminal thinkers in the field, shows how this progression took place. His wide-ranging discussion of the evolution of the field covers many facets, including discussions of biosemiotics, semiotics as a bridge between the humanities and natural sciences, semiosis, nonverbal communication, cat and horse behavior, the semiotic self, and women in semiotics. This thorough account will appeal to seasoned scholars and neophytes alike.

Linguistic Supertypes
Linguistic Supertypes

Author: Per Durst-Andersen

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter

Published: 2011-02-28

Total Pages: 329

ISBN-13: 3110253151

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The book offers a completely new view of language and of languages such as Russian, Chinese, Bulgarian, Georgian, Danish and English by dividing them into three supertypes on the basis of a step-by-step examination of their relationship to perception and cognition, their representation of situations and their use in oral and written discourse. The dynamic processing of visual stimuli involves three stages: input (experience), intake (understanding) and outcome (a combination). The very choice among three modalities of existence gives a language a certain voice -- either the voice of reality based on situations, the speaker's voice involving experiences or the hearer's voice grounded on information. This makes grammar a prime index: all symbols are static and impotent and need a vehicle, i.e. grammar, which can bring them to the proper point of reference. Language is shown to be a living organism with a determinant category, aspect, mood or tense, which conquers territory from other potential competitors trying to create harmony between verbal and nominal categories. It is demonstrated that the communication processes are different in the three supertypes, although in all three cases the speaker must choose between a public and a private voice before the grammar is put into use.

Literary Discourse
Literary Discourse

Author: Jørgen Dines Johansen

Publisher: University of Toronto Press

Published: 2002-01-01

Total Pages: 520

ISBN-13: 9780802035776

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Using the semiotic theory of American philosopher Charles S. Peirce, Johansen applies psychoanalysis, psychology, literary hermeneutics, literary history, Habermasian communication, and discourse theory to literature, and, in the process, redefines it.

Signs in Use
Signs in Use

Author: Jørgen Dines Johansen

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2005-07-26

Total Pages: 264

ISBN-13: 1134505787

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Signs in Use is an accessible introduction to the study of semiotics. All organisms, from bees to computer networks, create signs, communicate, and exchange information. The field of semiotics explores the ways in which we use these signs to make inferences about the nature of the world. Signs in Use cuts across different semiotic schools to introduce six basic concepts which present semiotics as a theory and a set of analytical tools: code, sign, discourse, action, text, and culture. Moving from the most simple to the most complex concept, the book gradually widens the semiotic perspective to show how and why semiotics works as it does. Each chapter covers a problem encountered in semiotics and explores the key concepts and relevant notions found in the various theories of semiotics. Chapters build gradually on knowledge gained, and can also be used as self-contained units for study when supported by the extensive glossary. The book is illustrated with numerous examples, from traffic systems to urban parks, and offers useful biographies of key twentieth-century semioticians.