Cognitive Semiotics (hence, CS) can be defined as an interdisciplinary matrix of disciplines and methods, focused on the multifaceted phenomenon of meaning or as an emerging field with the ambition of “…integrating methods and theories developed in the disciplines of cognitive science with methods and theories developed in semiotics and the humanities, with the ultimate [...]
Cognitive Semiotics (hence, CS) can be defined as an interdisciplinary matrix of disciplines and methods, focused on the multifaceted phenomenon of meaning or as an emerging field with the ambition of “…integrating methods and theories developed in the disciplines of cognitive science with methods and theories developed in semiotics and the humanities, with the ultimate [...]
The pressing challenges of cultural diversity offer fertile ground for applied research in semiotics and for exploration of its potential to bridge existing gaps between cultural theory and educational practice. For example, in its White Paper on Intercultural Dialogue, the Council of Europe (2008) has pointed to the critical role of higher education and research [...]
Note: The full version of this paper can be obtained from the current issue of the The Public Journal of Semiotics. Using visualization software, one can visualize the relations between words in a co-word map using relational (graph) analysis, and additionally distinguish meaningful components in the communication spatially by using a systems perspective. Figure 1, [...]
One of the major challenges in the development of software for multimodal analysis is the variety of media types and data which such software must handle. Software development, as with the human sciences, have tended towards compartmentalization during what Halliday referred to (1991: 39) as ‘the age of disciplines’, thus most relevant software applications tend to operate on specific types of data or provide specific tools for particular tasks. An intrinsic problem for multimodal digital software then is the computational integration of resources for the analysis of written text, image, sound, video, hypermedia and potentially any other media of communication (cf. Schmidt et. al. on software interoperability).
Semiotics publishing at De Gruyter Mouton has enjoyed a long and rich history, which began at Mouton (then The Hague, Netherlands) in 1969 with the launch of the journal Semiotica as the official journal of the International Association for Semiotic Studies (IASS) under the editorship of Thomas A. Sebeok. At this same time, parallel to [...]
Contemporary international scholarship on language, communication and discourse has seemed to continue to confine its topics, questions and orientations to ‘micro’ , abstract, or otherwise culturally restricted, domains of interest, often at the expense of real societal and cultural problems and concerns, especially those of the marginalized cultures and communities. Going through the majority of journals and books in the field, one cannot help being overwhelmed by how much is being written in the last two decades or so on ‘linguistic/discursive/semiotic features/strategies/rules’ of doing this or that, or ‘constructions’ of this or that, or the ‘identity’ of this or that. But any practically-minded, innovation-oriented and culturally-critical social science intellectual would have to ask what theoretical advance such academic productions are making, or what societal application they are having at all?
Scholars interested in human communication have long recognized that it is necessary to extend the purview of the field of semiotics to include all types of sign-making activity. Barthes (1957/1972: 112), advocating the development of “a semiological science” as earlier suggested by Saussure (1916/1975), drew attention to the diversity and ubiquity of signs: “In a single day, how many really non-signifying fields do we cross? Very few, sometimes none…on the beach, what material for semiology! Flags, slogans, signals, signboards, clothes, suntan even, which are so many messages to me”. It is no surprise then that scholars within the semiotics tradition have attended to the development and proliferation of interactive digital media and software technologies throughout the last century, and the expansion therein of the human capacity for meaningful sign-making activity. This has led to study of multimodality which concerns the often complex interactions of multiple signs, within different semiotic resources such as (spoken and written) language, (static and moving) image, gesture, proxemics, cinematography, sounds, music and displayed art (see Jewitt, 2009; Kress & van Leeuwen, 2006; O’Toole, 1994).
The following is a paper prepared that was prepared for the purpose of stimulating discussion at the initial meeting of the North American Association for the Study of Religion’s Working Group on the Semiotics of Religion in November, 2009.