Semiotics: The Basics

5. Auflage 2025
ISBN: 978-1-041-01611-3
Verlag: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Buch, Englisch, 418 Seiten, Format (B × H): 129 mm x 198 mm, Gewicht: 453 g

Reihe: The Basics

This fifth edition of the bestselling textbook is a major new revision, continuing to provide a concise introduction to the key concepts of semiotics in accessible and jargon-free language.

Demystifying what is a complex, highly interdisciplinary field, key questions covered include: What are signs and codes? What can semiotics teach us about representation and reality? What tools does it offer for analysing texts and cultural practices? Semiotics: The Basics focuses on its application to communication and cultural studies. The latest edition features a greatly extended treatment of core concepts, in particular traditional historical models of the sign, the semiotic triangle, and distinctions between ‘natural’ and conventional signs. There is also a greater emphasis on ‘the social life of signs’.

With an extensive index, a comprehensive glossary, suggestions for review and for further reading, and a list of online resources, this must-have guide is both the ideal introductory text and an essential reference for students of language, communication, media, and cultural studies at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels.

Zielgruppe

Postgraduate and Undergraduate Advanced

Autoren/Hrsg.

Chandler, Daniel

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Medien- und Kommunikationswissenschaften Medienwissenschaften
• Sozialwissenschaften Medien- und Kommunikationswissenschaften Kommunikationswissenschaften
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Mediensoziologie
• Geisteswissenschaften Sprachwissenschaft Sprachwissenschaften

Inhaltsverzeichnis

List of illustrations

Preface

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Definitions

Relation to philosophy and linguistics Structuralism

Why study semiotics?

1 Models

The semiotic triangle

Natural vs. conventional signs

The Saussurean model The arbitrariness of the linguistic sign The relational system

The Peircean model

Jakobson’s model

Sign relations Symbolic relations Iconic relations Indexical relations The case of photography Mixed modes

Types and tokens

Rematerializing the sign

Hjelmslev’s model

Reflections

Further reading

2 Realities

Categorization

Language, thought, and reality

Referentiality

Referentiality

Modality

The sign is not the thing

Empty signifiers

Reflections

Further reading

3 Structures

Horizontal and vertical axes

The paradigmatic dimension The commutation test Oppositions Markedness Deconstruction Conceptual alignment The semiotic square

The syntagmatic dimension Spatial relations Sequential relations

Structural reduction

Langue and parole

Reflections

Further reading

4 Codes

The language model

Digital and analogue codes

Typologies

Social codes

Textual codes Genre Aesthetic realisms Invisible editing

Interpretive codes Ways of reading

Codification

Limitations

Reflections

Further reading

5 Ways of meaning

Rhetorical tropes Metaphor Metonymy Synecdoche Irony Master tropes

Denotation and connotation

Myth

Reflections

Further reading

6 Interactions

Models of communication

Context and relevance

Communicative functions

The positioning of the subject Modes of address

Intertextuality Problematizing authorship No text is an island Intratextuality Textual framing

Reflections

Further reading

7 Perspectives

Structuralist semiotics

Poststructuralist semiotics

The return of Saussure

Social semiotics

Cognitive semiotics Cartesian dualism Semiotic stances Mental representation Embodiment

Methodologies

An ecological and multimodal approach

Reflections

Further reading

Going further

Glossary

References

Index

Über Autor(innen)

Daniel Chandler is an emeritus faculty member at Aberystwyth University, UK, and a consultant in marketing semiotics. He is also the senior compiler of A Dictionary of Media and Communication (3rd edition, Oxford University Press, 2020) and A Dictionary of Social Media (Oxford University Press, 2016).