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Semiotics, the study of signs, is concerned with “how meanings are made and how reality is represented” (Chandler 2007: 2). As such, semiotics is one of the foundational disciplines of linguistics and the theory of language. In part, this is due simply to historical reasons – Ferdinand de Saussure, the founding father of modern-day linguistics, was a semiotician. On a more general level, this is true in the sense that language “is the central and most important among all human semiotic systems” (Jakobson 1975). Therefore, many introductions to linguistics dutifully cover the basics of sign theory, but usually say little about the wider impact of semiotics on doing linguistics.
In this class, we will attempt to do both. The first part is a thorough introduction to signs and semiotic theory. We will cover the cognitive, biological and philosophical foundations of meaning-making and discuss the more important semiotic typologies and models.
After this introductory part, we will move on to explore the implications of semiotic theory – for linguistics, for language use, and in fact for our everyday experience. We will connect semiotics to other areas of linguistic theory, such as semantics, pragmatics, and sociolinguistics; we will see its applications in the analysis of text, media and cultural practices; and we will get acquainted with recent concepts from sociolinguistics, such as the indexical field (Eckert 2008) and semiotic landscapes (Jaworski and Thurlow 2011).
We will use Chandler (2007) as a textbook in class. A detailed syllabus containing topics, reading schedules and a bibliography will be provided at the beginning of the semester.
- Chandler, Daniel. 2007. Semiotics: The Basics. 2nd Edition. London: Routledge.
- Eckert, Penelope. 2008. “Variation and the indexical field.” Journal of Sociolinguistics 12: 453-76.
- Jakobson, Roman. 1975. Main trends in the science of language. New York: Harper & Row.
- Jaworski, Adam, Crispin Thurlow. 2011. Semiotic Landscapes. Language, Image, Space. London: Continuum.
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