Published since January 1, 1969

Semiotica

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

ISSN: 1613-3692

Editors-in-chief: Stephanie Walsh Matthews, Massimo Leone, Jamin R. Pelkey

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About this journal

Objective
Semiotica is published in six annual issues, in two languages (English and French). From time to time, Special Issues, devoted to topics of particular interest, are assembled by Guest Editors. The publishers of Semiotica offer an annual prize, the Mouton d'Or, to the author of the best article each year. The article is selected by an independent international jury.

Topics
We welcome papers reporting results of research in all branches of semiotic studies.

Article formats
Research articles, in-depth reviews, guest editorials, reports

Mouton D’Or Winner 2022

"Semiotricité et corps en jeu", Parlebas, Pierre, 248, 9-35.

The judges commented: "The Committee members made this decision based on many appreciations. First, the article contains a concise theory on semiotics of movement, synthesizing decades of research of the author. It opens an exciting framework for the contribution of many other authors. The theoretical grounds of semiotircity are built on the most classical semiotic approaches and represent a genuine development. Second, the article refreshes semiotics methodology in very original way, by engaging the applied semiotics for furtive and instantaneous activities analysis. Third, the article is pretty clear and well structured, written in very comprehensible French. The theoretical frame it opens is thorough and far reaching. Fourth, the semiotic theory of movement comes in a very special moment when the whole world is football, but it covers also many other areas of applicability which reflect major trends such as the general gamification of life thanks to new media and digital technologies. It is crucial for semiotic theory to open its theoretic scope towards significant cultural trends and become more attractive for young researchers."

Les membres du comité ont pris leur décision en fondant leur appréciation sur quatre éléments principaux. Premier élément : l'article, en peu de mots, en prenant appui sur des décennies de recherche de la part de l'auteur, déploie de manière précise les termes d'une sémiotique du mouvement. Les fondements théoriques de la sémiotricité sont construits sur des approches sémiotiques bien établies et représentent un véritable développement dans le domaine. En cela, le texte ouvre un cadre passionnant pour les contributions de nombreux autres chercheurs. Deuxièmement, l'article renouvelle la sémiotique appliquée de manière très originale, l'engageant dans une approche efficace des actions instantanées et furtives; la méthodologie sémiotique en général en tire donc aussi profit. Troisième point, en plus d'être profond, avec un cadre théorique d'ampleur et de grande portée, l'article est particulièrement bien structuré et écrit dans un français très compréhensible, ce qui est un véritable gain pour sa diffusion. Enfin, quatrièmement, s'il est indéniable que le texte pourrait bénéficier d'une visibilité complémentaire due à la ferveur liée au contexte récent de la coupe du monde de football au Qatar, il couvre surtout de nombreux autres domaines d'applicabilité qui reflètent des tendances majeures telles que la gamification générale de la vie, portée par les nouveaux médias et les technologies numériques. L'on y voit une belle opportunité pour la théorie sémiotique d'ouvrir son champ à la faveur de tendances culturelles significatives; ceci est une garantie pour continuer à attirer de nouvelles générations de chercheurs.

Your Benefits

Your benefits:

inclusive scope focusing on all branches of semiotic studies
multidisciplinary approach to semiotics
comprehensive overview of current literature in semiotics
prestigious publication of the International Association for Semiotic Studies
international and renowned editorial board
bilingual publication: English and French

History

Semiotica was founded in 1969.

Other publications in the field
Journals:
Chinese Semiotic Studies
Cognitive Semiotics

Language and Semiotic Studies

Book series:
Semiotics, Communication and Cognition [SCC]

Abstracting and Indexing

Semiotica is covered by the following services:

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Supplementary Materials

Topics

External Links

Volume 2023 Issue 251

May 2023

Publicly Available May 4, 2023

Frontmatter

Page range: i-viii

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Language and Philosophy

Open Access March 29, 2023

On Kant doing philosophy and the Peircean alternative

Dan Nesher

Page range: 1-38

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Abstract

In my work on Kant’s Transcendental epistemology, I criticize his three Critiques and show that none of them can solve the problems that Kant endeavored to solve; and he even, in a way, admitted it. In the first Critique, Kant attempts to solve the difficulties of the Cartesian Idealism and Humean Empirism, in combining them mechanically in his own Transcendental formalism and Sensual matter without being able to bridge the gap between them. In the second Critique, Kant endeavored to make his Practical Reason of the a priori pure fact of formal morality into free moral conduct to materialize his ideal commonwealth of ends, but he could not bridge this gap. In his third Critique, Kant attempted to make the aesthetic reflective judgment of beauty objective, including of artworks, but failed to do so. The Peircean pragmaticist method can save the theory of knowledge both from the dogmatism of the metaphysical realists and from the inconsistency of the phenomenalists and holists. Peirce developed his epistemological realism in response to the difficulties of Kant’s transcendental epistemology, especially that of his three Critiques. It seems that in his late research Kant tries to follow Spinoza in the distinction between the causality in nature and the human inner causality as one’s Moral freedom and yet for Kant they operate in different domains to keep human freedom absolute, while the Spinozist conception of human freedom is in Nature and relative to human knowledge of reality and one’s relative power in Nature. Kant’s Anthropology from a Pragmatic Point of View is a continuation of his Transcendental critical philosophy, but also his intended empirical epistemology by which to develop a practical deviation from his Copernican Revolution in the direction of the Peircean contra-revolution in Pragmaticist epistemology.

Open Access February 3, 2023

From Sprachtheorie to semantics and cybernetics: Karl Bühler’s “Pocketbook on practical semantics”

James McElvenny, Clemens Knobloch

Page range: 39-54

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Abstract

Among the many Central European scholars and intellectuals driven into exile across the Atlantic in the 1930s was the prominent Vienna psychologist Karl Bühler (1879–1963). Bühler had great difficulty establishing himself in his new home of the United States, despite his attempts to adapt his ideas to the American scene. In this paper, we look at one such attempt at adaptation, the unpublished manuscript of Bühler’s “Pocketbook on Practical Semantics,” an effort to turn the Sprachtheorie of his Vienna period into a contribution to the applied semiotics and communications research popular in America at the time. Our paper represents the first detailed examination of the “Pocketbook” manuscript that places it in its context in the history of semiotics.

March 27, 2023

The semiotics of motion encoding in Early English: a cognitive semiotic analysis of phrasal verbs in Old and Middle English

Sergio Torres-Martínez

Page range: 55-91

Abstract

This paper offers a renewed construction grammar analysis of linguistic constructions in a diachronic perspective. The present theory, termed Agentive Cognitive Construction Grammar (AgCCxG), is informed by active inference (AIF), a process theory for the comprehension of intelligent agency. AgCCxG defends the idea that language bear traces of non-linguistic, bodily-acquired information that reflects sémiotico-biological processes of energy exchange and conservation. One of the major claims of the paper is that embodied cognition has evolved to facilitate ontogenic mental alignment among humans. This is demonstrated by the results of a corpus study in which the patterns of association between verbs, the particle UP and argument structure in Old and Middle English have been studied. The conclusion is that, similar to biological systems, the linguistic sign system displays patterns of equilibrium and non-equilibrium. In other words, while in Old English usage near equilibrium was reached through the use of a conservative set of constructional semiotic templates (attachment patterns), associated with motor modalities, Middle English displays high rates of randomness resulting in a less stable, yet distinct, system of constructional attachment.

Image and Media Culture

March 22, 2023

Gastrofonia: a new cultural horizon of music and food

Raffaella Scelzi, Nicola Difino

Page range: 93-107

Abstract

The meaning of matter is determined by our interpretations. Even food has its own frequencies, which can be aligned with the specific notes of a musical scale. When presented with a dish we might ask not only “how does it taste?” but also “how does it sound?.” Gastrofonia is defined not as the musical accompaniment to a cooking demonstration, but the actual sound of it: music is made by food. Built upon an experiment initiated by John Cage to try to make music with objects, gastrofonia examines sound as a possible connection among the visual and material arts. Combining music with taste, musician Roy Paci identified a biosonic perception of food. This chapter aims to analyze the case of gastrofonia in light of the increased scientific and artistic interest in food characterizing our contemporary society, that is, an orthorexic society where food has become a specific form of language, a communicative vehicle through which we express our identity, interests, social-ethical choices, and new concepts of art. From a sociosemiotic perspective, the gastrofonic dish is an example of a textual polyphonic discourse combining different languages, related to the five senses in a performance that becomes a form of shared communication.

March 23, 2023

Latmos: a semiotic view on the subject’s role in the sustainability of natural and cultural values

Murat Kalelioğlu

Page range: 109-133

Abstract

Along with the developments in social, scientific, and technological fields, today’s conditions are constantly changing and becoming much more complex. Humans must keep pace with the rapidly changing world, meet requirements, and solve various problems encountered with minimal damage. One of the most crucial obligations is to preserve the delicate balance between nature and culture to make it sustainable for humanity. This study is carried out pursuant to semiotics with an interdisciplinary perspective dealing with the relation of culture with nature and the role of humans, as a subject, in this relation regarding both natural and cultural heritages of Latmos. The study examines the subject’s acts and possible influences on nature, culture, and society in the region. It is seen that there is an uphill battle between two different subjects; the reason for this is a conflict of interest encountered on individual and social planes. On the one hand, one of the subjects is aware of the positive effects of preserving natural and cultural values on society and its future. On the other hand, another subject is unaware of all these or is aware of them but ignores natural and cultural values and destroys them for the sake of self-interest.

Literature

March 17, 2023

Analysis of the metaphorical meanings of symbols in Milan Kundera’s novels

Qian Zhao

Page range: 135-159

Abstract

Milan Kundera is one of the most influential writers in contemporary world literature. In his novels, there are many symbolic metaphors related to numbers, dreams, and animals. Combing through the plots of Kundera’s novels, we can discover that among all the numbers, seven and twenty are used most frequently. These two numbers have rich metaphorical meanings. Besides, there are many other digital metaphors in Kundera’s novels, including 6, 4, etc. Apart from number symbols, Kundera has also inserted various kinds of dream symbols in his artistic creation. For Kundera, dreams are not just an individual’s physical and psychological activities, but also a continuation and supplement of real life. It can be concluded that dream narration is a perfect medium for the author to express his philosophical ideology. In addition, dream symbols also serve as an important medium for Kundera to demonstrate narrative skills and present important themes. In Kundera’s novels, animal symbols are integrated with the plots, revealing the personal traits of the relevant characters, and mirroring their spiritual world at the same time. Besides, Kundera also expressed his ecological ethics through the narration of animals’ death. In conclusion, the metaphorical meanings of different symbols in Kundera’s novels play an active role in highlighting the themes, revealing the inner thoughts of the characters, showing the special features of the characters, and expressing the author’s philosophical thoughts. These symbols help Kundera to break the limitations of time and space, which has become an important part of his polyphonic art. What’s more, Kundera has also tried to expand the original metaphorical meanings of these symbols to create some new poetic meanings.

March 31, 2023

“Real” and imaginary worlds in children’s fiction: The Velveteen Rabbit

Christian M. I. M. Matthiessen, Francisco O. D. Veloso

Page range: 161-191

Abstract

Literature for children is often designed to stimulate imagination through variants of the “real” world that we inhabit, expanding their potential for construing different possible worlds – variants that include imaginary characters like animals with human traits or toys that are somehow animated and conscious. Here we will examine one version of Margery William’s classic nursery tale The Velveteen Rabbit, or How Toys Become Real , where the theme of “real” and imaginary characters and worlds is construed both linguistically and pictorially. We will show how the theme is construed in both text and image, and how the two complement one another, together keeping the two worlds apart while at the same time representing the Velveteen Rabbit’s transformation from toy rabbit to real rabbit.

Publicity/Marketing

March 20, 2023

A bibliometric and visual analysis of social semiotics: development, hotspots, and trend directions

Han Xiao, Lei Li

Page range: 193-213

Abstract

Social semiotics is now widely regarded as one of the leading research areas. This study is the first attempt to present a holistic overview of social semiotics based on the data in the Web of Science core collection database from 2001 to 2020. The study investigates, among other issues, social semiotics’ publishing tendency, the most productive authors, countries, institutions, and hotspots. The results exhibit a steady rise in its publications and citations. The current analysis verifies the growing quantitative and qualitative research contributions and influences of this field. Furthermore, what the journals focus on are the innovative and contemporary themes, manifested predominantly in sign, multimodality, gender, experimental semiotics, advertising, culture, and social media, which involve a wide range of methodologies to make the research more acceptable and constructive. These results are expected to offer refreshing insights that inspire scholars in formulating scientific agendas and advising their research strategies, thereby facilitating substantial contributions to the domain.

March 20, 2023

Quand l’énonciation publicitaire construit de la connivence avec de l’humour

Annabelle Seoane, Montserrat López Díaz

Page range: 215-238

Abstract

Résumé Nous posons dans cet article que l’humour dans le discours publicitaire est un mécanisme privilégié de la communication multicanale et plurisémiotique pour transformer le discours marchand en pratique communicationnelle agissante. Dans son rapport à une normativité donnée comme potentiellement divergente, il est mobilisé dans le double objectif de construire un ethos décalé, identifiable et mémorisable pour le locuteur-annonceur, et de produire du plaisir intellectuel pour susciter la connivence du récepteur, qui devient ainsi co-énonciateur. Est alors interrogée la sémiosis de ce discours publicitaire dont chaque élément est porteur de signification aux yeux du récepteur lors de l’acte d’énonciation. Par la lecture connivente que le processus induit, l’acte humoristique comme acte de parole du côté de la production vise ensuite à s’actualiser en acte d’achat proprement dit du côté de la réception.

Ahead of Print / Just Accepted

Ahead of Print / Just Accepted

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5-year Journal Impact Factor	0.413
CiteScore	0.7
European Reference Index for the Humanities
Journal Impact Factor	0.475
Journal Citation Indicator	0.72
SCImago Journal Rank	0.290
Source Normalized Impact per Paper	0.762

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Submission
You can easily submit your manuscript online. Simply go to https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/semi and you will be guided through the whole peer-reviewing and publishing process.

Your benefits of publishing with us

Rapid online publication ahead-of-print with short turnaround times
Annual prize, the Mouton d'Or, to the author of the best article each year
High quality peer-review
Easy-to-use online submission system
Free publication of color figures both in online and print editions and no page charges
Optional open access publication
Every article easily discoverable because of SEO and comprehensive abstracting and indexing services
Secure archiving by De Gruyter and the independent archiving service Portico

Submission process

Submissions should be formatted according to the De Gruyter Mouton journal style sheet, especially regarding the proper format for citations and reference entries
Submission of your paper via our submission management tool
Peer review process (you will be guided through every step)
The editorial office will forward your manuscript for double-blind peer-review. This takes on average 3-4 months
If accepted: you have the option to publish your article open access

Additional information for manuscript formatting

Manuscripts should be no longer than 30–35 pages.
Review articles should be headed 'Review article' and given an appropriate title that is different from the title of the work(s) under review. The title should be followed by an asterisked footnote, placed at the bottom of the first page of text, containing the bibliographical details of the work(s) under review: *Ray Jackendoff, Languages of the mind: Essays on mental representation. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1992.
References to the work under review should be cited by page number alone (e.g., 'p. 16'). Otherwise, the references should conform to the style for articles.
Corrections. Authors are asked to check their manuscripts very carefully before submitting them in order to prevent delays at the proof stage. Especially check in-text citations against listings in the References section, to be sure dates and spelling match, and that all works cited are listed.
Proofs. Authors will receive PDF page proofs for correction which must be returned by dates determined by the publication schedule.
Author copy. Upon publication, authors will receive electronic access to their contribution. Guest editors of special issues will receive complimentary print copies of the issue.

Please note

Before submitting your article please have a look at our Author Publication Policy, Publication Ethics Statement and our copyright agreement
Manuscripts must be written in clear and concise English or French (please also see the Notes aux Auteurs)
Once your article is accepted you have the option to publish it open access.
Our repository policy allows you to distribute 30 PDF copies of your published article to colleagues (the PDF has to include the information that it is an author's copy). Please also feel free to distribute the link to the online abstract
If you have any general questions please visit our FAQ page for journal authors

We look forward to receiving your manuscript!

Hybrid Open Access

Authors have the option to publish their article under an open access license. The standard article processing charge for a hybrid open access article is 2,000 Euro (plus VAT if applicable). Please note that corresponding authors from institutions with which we have a transformative agreement, can publish open access without paying the fee. More information on the eligible institutions and articles can be found here.

Editorial

Editors-in-Chief
Stéphanie Walsh Matthews
Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada

Massimo Leone
University of Turin, Turin, Italy

Jamin Pelkey
Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada

e-mail: semioticaeds@degruyter.com

Managing Editor
Paolo Ammirante
e-mail:semiotica@ryerson.ca

Editorial Committee
Myrdene Anderson
Prisca Augustyn
Paolo Balboni
Marcello Barbieri
Arthur Asa Berger
Mohamed Bernoussi
Per Aage Brandt
Thomas Broden
Patrizia Calefato
Le Cheng
Paul Cobley
Robbie B. H. Goh
Louis Hébert
André Helbo
Kalevi Kull
Dragana Martinovic
Frank Nuessel
Susan Petrilli
Roland Posner †
Eddo Rigotti
Shi-xu
Eero Tarasti
Bill Thompson
Didier Tsala Effa
Massimo Vedovelli
Hongbing Yu
Giovanna Zaganelli
Yiheng Zhao

(Deutsch)

Online ISSN: 1613-3692
Print ISSN: 0037-1998
Type: Journal
Languages: English, French
Publisher: De Gruyter Mouton
First published: January 1, 1969
Publication Frequency: 6 Issues per Year
Audience: Researchers in the field of semiotics