Semiotica - Journal of the International Association for Semiotic Studies / Revue de l'Association Internationale de Sémiotique

Deely, John

doi: 10.1515/SEM.2006.001pmid: N/A

This article traces the comparative fortunes of the terms ‘semiology’ and ‘semiotics,’ with the associated expressions ‘science of signs’ and ‘doctrine of signs,’ from their original appearance in English dictionaries in the 1800s through their adoption in the 1900s as focal points in discussions of signs that flourished after pioneering writings by Charles Sanders Peirce and Ferdinand de Saussure. The greater popularity of ‘semiology’ by mid-century was compromised by Thomas Sebeok's seminal proposal of signs at work among all animals, and Umberto Eco's work marked a ‘tipping point’ where the understanding associated with ‘semiotics’ came to prevail over the glottocentrism associated with ‘semiology.’

Kidron, Carol A

doi: 10.1515/SEM.2006.002pmid: N/A

The phenomenon of play is evaluated as key theme in the Homeric Hymn to Hermes, where self-referential paradox is used as a passage way into play, game, and ritual. Hermes as hybrid, semi-divine God, embodies the metamessage ‘this is play,’ incessantly capitalizing on the chaotic ambiguity and generative power of play and paradox. Designing a sequence of paradoxes, Hermes moves processually along paradoxical contiunua to create a ‘play reality,’ trapping his opponents in a world of illusion, ‘magic,’ and movement and utlilizing the trajectory of his new creations to propel himself along the larger continuum of his own essential hybridity.

Fletcher, Ben (C); Pine, Karen J

doi: 10.1515/SEM.2006.003pmid: N/A

This study looks at whether untrained observers are able to ‘read’ children's gestures, particularly those that do not match the child's speech. It also explores the frequent claim that gesture-speech mismatches can signal when a child is on the verge of learning a new concept. The diagnostic value of gestures is investigated by asking whether untrained adults are able to recognize this. Forty-two adult participants viewed twelve video clips of children's spontaneous explanations of a balance task. Each child produced only one type of spoken explanation, from four possible ones. However, half of the children conveyed a dierent explanation in their hand gestures. Participants assessed the children who produced gesture-speech mismatches as having more understanding of the concept than ‘matching’ children. Furthermore, they were more likely to assess these children as being on the verge of learning. Thus they were able to glean important information about the child's knowledge state from the children's gestures that was not indicated in speech alone.

Guibert, Gaë

doi: 10.1515/SEM.2006.004pmid: N/A

Résumé Dans le cadre théorique de la grammaire applicative et cognitive, nous appliquons une méthode de linguistique textuelle, à des textes bibliques. Après avoir examiné certains commentaires d'un texte, il s'agit de s'interroger sur l'intérêt d'une méthode de linguistique textuelle pour ce texte ; nous expliquons l'application de cette méthode à un objet-texte multiple, délimité par rapport à l'intertextualité ; objet qu'elle commence par construire pour garantir l'objectivité des résultats obtenus, en vue de ‘faire parler le texte par lui-même.’ Puis, la méthode propose d'étudier la narration, l'espace-temps, l'énonciation et les dialogues du texte. Nous proposons enfin de rechercher des structures de la signification avec les prédicats du texte et leur suite ordonnée, parfois récurrentes dans le texte et organisatrices de sa signification. Ce dernier point de'gage des structures profondes et organisatrices du texte, au niveau génotype — un génome du texte.

Somov, Georgij Yu

doi: 10.1515/SEM.2006.005pmid: N/A

In art connotations spread denotative structures. Correspondingly, the role of connotations in visual artworks should be as important as it is in systems of verbal information. Hence, developed connotative structures are found in visual artwork. Connotations of visual artworks are based on fundamental codes and develop their basic text. Representamens of denotations and connotations are interrelated and organized in system-structural formations of signals. Text of a visual artwork directs the actualization of connotations on the basis of its principal meanings and communicative structure. Connotations form semantic fields corresponding to basic meanings and text of artworks. These connotations, hidden from direct perception, are discussed with respect to the works of Vrubel.

Tanaka-Ishii, Kumiko

doi: 10.1515/SEM.2006.006pmid: N/A

The correspondence between the triadic sign model proposed by Peirce and the dyadic sign model proposed by Saussure is examined. Traditionally, it has been thought that Peirce's interpretant corresponds to Saussure's signified and Saussure's model lacks Peirce's object. However, our analysis of the two most widely used computer programming paradigms suggests that Peirce's object formally corresponds to Saussure's signified, and that Saussure's sign model is obtained when Peirce's interpretant is located outside of his model in the language system.

Barbieri, Marcello

doi: 10.1515/SEM.2006.007pmid: N/A

Genes and proteins are molecular artifacts because they are manufactured by molecular machines that physically stick their subunits together in the order provided by external templates. This implies that all biological objects are artifacts, and therefore that ‘life is artifact-making.’ Natural objects can be completely accounted for by physical quantities, whereas artifacts require additional entities like sequences and codes, or equivalent entities like information and meaning. Here it is shown that organic information and organic meaning are brought into existence by the molecular processes of copying and coding, which implies that, far from being metaphors, they are as real as the processes that produce them. It is also shown that they can be defined by operative procedures that make them as objective and reproducible as physical quantities. The result is that organic information and organic meaning are a new type of fundamental natural entities that here are referred to as nominable entities because they can be specified only by naming their components in their natural order. Any organic code is a correspondence between the objects of two independent worlds (genes and proteins) which is established by molecules that belong to a third world (RNAs). The elementary act of organic coding is therefore a relationship between three objects that can be referred to as ‘sign, meaning, and adaptor,’ whereas the elementary act of cultural semiosis consists, according to Peirce, of ‘sign, meaning, and interpretant.’ It is underlined that ‘organic semiosis’ is implemented by codemakers and consists of objective organic reactions, whereas ‘mental semiosis’ is performed by interpreters and is a subjective process. This means that organic semiosis does not require the existence of a mind at the molecular level, and the organic codes are natural processes that are based on objective, reproducible, and fundamental natural entities.

Brier, Søren

doi: 10.1515/SEM.2006.008pmid: N/A

The present paper discusses various suggestions for a philosophical framework for a transdisciplinary information science or a semiotic doctrine. These are: the mechanical materialistic, the pan-informational, the Luhmanian second order cybernetic approach, Peircian biosemiotics and finally, the pan-semiotic approach. The limitations of each are analyzed. The conclusion is that we will not have to choose between a cybernetic-informational and a semiotic approach. A combination of a Peircian-based biosemiotics with autopoiesis theory, second order cybernetics, and information science is suggested in a five-levelled cybersemiotic framework. The five levels are 1) a level of Firstness, 2) a level of mechanical matter, energy, and force as Secondness, 3) a cybernetic and thermodynamic level of information, 4) a level of sign games and 5) a level of conscious language games. These levels are then used to differentiate levels of information systems, sign and language games in human communication. In our model, Maturana and Varela's description of the logic of the living as autopoietic is accepted and expanded with Luhmann's generalization of the concept of autopoiesis to also cover psychological and socio-communicative systems. Adding a Peircian concept of semiosis to Luhmann's theory in the framework of biosemiotics enables us to view the interplay of mind and body as a sign play. I have in a previous publication (see list of references) suggested the term ‘sign play’ pertaining to exosemiotics processes between animals in the same species by stretching Wittgenstein's language game concept into the animal world of signs. A new concept of intrasemiotics designates the semiosis of the interpenetration between the biological and psychological autopoietic systems as Luhmann defines them in his theory. I am suggesting a cybersemiotic model to combine these approaches, defining various concepts like thought-semiotics, phenosemiotic and intrasemiotics, combining them with the already known concepts of exosemiotics, ecosemiotics, and endosemiotics into a new view of self-organizing semiotic processes in living systems. Thus a new semiotic level of description is generated, where mind-body interactions can be understood on the same description level. This is the direction suggested to work in to create a broad philosophy of information, cognitive, and communication science that makes it possible for us to see the different approaches not as mutually exclusive, but rather as mutually complementary in accepting an ontology where reality do have structures and processes, but the foundation is hyper-complex and therefore not to be reduced by any knowledge system.

Cantor, Robert M

doi: 10.1515/SEM.2006.009pmid: N/A

This is a phenomenological study of the mental processes involved in the reading of Roentgen images. Its conceptual basis is in Roentgen semiotics, an adaptation of Peircean semiotics that incorporates the linguistic concept of markedness. It is shown that the notions of ‘abnormality’ and ‘change’ in Roentgen diagnosis are represented by signs of ‘difference.’ Differential signs for the detection, localization or identification of ‘abnormality’ or ‘change’ are constructed by means of Roentgen semiotic grammar.

Griffin, Michael

doi: 10.1515/SEM.2006.010pmid: N/A

Mythic algebra was developed in a trio of papers in the Journal of Literary Semantics . It models mythology and storytelling with algebraic sets. Expanded into a proto-mathematical system, it provides a hierarchical range of functions which can also apply to language and symbolic processes. Its relation to the three basic ‘laws of thought’ of classical logic is analyzed. Correspondences are also found with the Peircean division of a sign into icon, index, and symbol. Further applications are made to metaphor and irony.