Open Access Published by De Gruyter Mouton

Volume 11 Issue 4

Issue of Chinese Semiotic Studies

Contents
Journal Overview

Publicly Available November 13, 2015

Frontmatter

Page range: I-V

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Part One: Applications of Semiotics

November 13, 2015

An Analysis of English Demonstration Classroom Discourse

A New Perspective on Lotman’s Cultural Semiotics

Rong Zou

Page range: 407-418

Abstract

From the perspective of cultural semiotic theory, Lotman divided the dynamic communication process within a semiosphere into five stages: contact, selection, internalization, integration and transmission. This process contains two communication models: the“I-YOU” communication model and the“I-I” communication model (the autocommunication model). This paper brings Lotman’s cultural semiotic theory into the field of classroom discourse analysis and recommends treating the classroom as a semiosphere. By investigating the dynamic communication process between the teacher and the students in the classroom semiosphere, this paper attempts to reveal the inner dynamics of classroom communication as well as the functions of classroom discourse in different communication models. It is found that the communication process in the classroom semiosphere should be seen as dynamic and inter-subjective. Finally, it confirms the significance of the autocommunication model for the construction and generation of students’ knowledge.

Part Two: Interactions between Chinese and Western Semiotics

November 13, 2015

Intersemiotic Bestiary

Translating El libro de los Seres Imaginarios

Mariana Salimena, João Queiroz

Page range: 419-431

Abstract

The phenomenon of intersemiotic translation from literature (source-sign) to graphic illustration (target-sign) is well known and has been exhaustively analyzed. Jakobson (2000: 114) defines the phenomenon as “transmutation⁄ or interpretation of verbal signs by means of signs of nonverbal sign systems”. This paper presents an intersemiotic translation of El libro de los Seres Imaginarios by Jorge Luis Borges, more specifically the chapter that describes a bestiary of Chinese fauna. Written in collaboration with Margarita Guerrero, El libro was first published in 1957 with the title Manual de Zoología Fantástica; later it was expanded and republished with the title El Libro de los Seres Imaginarios (“The Book of Imaginary Beings”). In this paper, we identify some formal aspects of the literary source-sign to be considered most relevant. Afterwards, we submit those aspects to graphic recreations directed by the construction of fantastic characters in the aesthetic domain of pixel art.

Part Three: Western Cultural Signs and Sign Theories

November 13, 2015

Double Debunking

Modern Divination and the End of Semiotics

Massimo Leone

Page range: 433-477

Abstract

Why did semiotics develop as a discipline that concentrates on the concept of sign, and that sees and interprets the world through this concept? Why was the idea of a science that systematically studies signs welcome in a certain epoch of humanity, and why does it seem so abstruse to most nowadays? Should it be given up, like something that belongs to a remote, vanished past? Or is there something, in semiotics, that still offers answers that no other discipline can provide?

November 13, 2015

Memory, Identity, Power

A Semiotic Approach to the Social Construction of Meaning in Rock Art

Silvia E. Giraudo, Alvaro R. Martel

Page range: 479-497

Abstract

In this paper we propose Peircean semiotics as one of the most useful methodological tools to analyze and elaborate interpretative hypotheses about the social meaning of rock art. Social meaning implies a dialectic interaction among memory, identity, and distribution of power within a social group. These three elements, together with materiality, take part in a dynamic productive process of social discourses. In many archaic cultures, rock art was one of those discourses.

November 13, 2015

The Art of Representation in a Globalized World

The Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games

Félix J. Ríos

Page range: 499-511

Abstract

Globalization is fast expanding the ways in which the performing arts and entertainment are received around the world. This situation should be analyzed from several perspectives, including technological, economic, artistic, philosophical, historical and social. Given that scientific development does not justify the use and value that has been attributed to the social media that convey artistic information in post-modern societies, the various systems of representation should be described in detail, followed by a critical analysis of social interaction that leads to the performing process. The Olympic Games are among the most viewed sporting events on the planet. Over the years, opening and closing ceremonies have become a complex model of a spectacular show. The opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games is a paradigmatic example.

About this journal

Objective

Chinese Semiotic Studies (CSS) is a peer-reviewed academic journal sponsored by the International Institute of Semiotic Studies of Nanjing Normal University and the Chinese Semiotic Research Center of the Chinese Association of Linguistic Semiotics.

As the only international semiotics journal in China appearing in English, CSS is a unique outlet for Chinese scholars to be heard in global academia, affording an expanded and constructive dialogue between Chinese and non-Chinese semioticians on China-related subject matters and beyond.

Each issue contains three thematic sections: (i) Chinese Cultural Signs and Sign Theories, (ii) Western Cultural Signs and Sign Theories and (iii) Interactions between Chinese and Western semiotics.

Topics

Chinese semiotics
Linguistic studies
Area studies
Asian studies

Article formats
Original Research Articles, Review Articles, and Book Reviews.