Undergraduate Course: Semiotics (LASC10124)
Course Outline
| School | School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | Semiotics is the science of signs, within and beyond language. Linguistics has been twinned with semiotics through it history, and in this course the focus is on linguistic semiotics, broadly defined. Areas of current linguistic research in which semiotics figures importantly include:
Sign language linguistics, which requires understanding and investigating how people use their hands, face and bodies to communicate within situated contexts
Sociolinguistics, which takes indexicality as one of its founding notions
Discourse analysis, which especially over the last decade has embraced a 'multimodality' requiring understanding of semiotic functioning beyond the text in the narrow sense
Language evolution, including some of the work done in our CLE, and ex-tending to biosemiotics/zoosemiotics.
We shall also examine the role of semiotic enquiry in shaping the study of language structure in the 20th and 21st centuries generally.
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| Course description |
The course follows the progress of semiotic enquiry, starting with its origins and following through to recent developments, ending with a significant focus on sign language semiotics. The structure for Weeks 1 to 6 are that the Tuesday sessions will be lecture followed by discussion, with the Wednesday sessions focussed on close reading of a key text for the following week¿s topic. In Weeks 7 to 9, lectures and activities on sign language linguistics will be interlaced with group-work in preparation for your final paper and exam.
The course syllabus is as follows (in weeks 7-9, GH = Gabrielle Hodge, JEJ = John Joseph)
WEEK 1
Tue 14 Jan Introduction; mediaeval traditions; Locke's semiotiké; Saussure's semiology
Wed 15 Jan Close reading: Peirce
WEEK 2
Tue 21 Jan Peircean semeiotic
Wed 22 Jan Close reading: Hjelmslev
WEEK 3
Tue 28 Jan Welby; Ogden & Richards; Morris; Hjelmslev¿
Wed 29 Jan Close reading: Barthes
WEEK 4
Tue 4 Feb Paris structuralists
Wed 5 Feb Close reading: Uexküll
WEEK 5
Tue 11 Feb Zoosemiotics and biosemiotics
Wed 12 Feb Close reading: Durst-Andersen & Cobley; discussion of Formative feedback assignment
FLEXIBLE LEARNING WEEK (17 Feb.)
WEEK 6
Tue 25 Feb Formative feedback assignment due; Object semiotics; Multimodal communication¿
Wed 26 Feb Guest lecture by Prof Simon Kirby on semiotics and language origin and evolution
READING WEEK: No meetings 4-5 Mar
WEEK 7
Tue 11 Mar 10-10:50 Preparation for research paper (JEJ), 11-11:50 Sign language semiotics: repertoires (GH)
Wed 12 Mar Sign language semiotics: repertoires (GH)
WEEK 8
Tue 18 Mar 10-10:50 Class discussion/presentation of research paper plans (JEJ), 11-11:50 Sign language semiotics: ideologies (GH)
Wed 19 Mar Sign language semiotics: ideologies (GH)
WEEK 9
Tue 25 Mar 10-10:50 Class discussion/presentation of research paper plans; preparation for final exam (JEJ), 11-11:50 Sign language semiotics: worlding (GH)
Wed 26 Mar Sign language semiotics: worlding (GH)
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Visiting students should have a background in linguistic theory sufficient to take LEL Honours courses. Please consult the CO if unsure. |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2024/25, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 31 |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 27,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
169 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
50 %,
Coursework
50 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
1. Formative Feedback Assignment in preparation for research paper worth 10%. Word count 500.
2. Research paper on one of the topics/ approaches covered on the course worth 40%. Word count 1500
3. Centrally arranged exam worth 50% |
| Feedback |
Formative Feedback Assignment due after Week 5, with individual and group feedback to follow by Week 7. |
| Exam Information |
| Exam Diet |
Paper Name |
Minutes |
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| Main Exam Diet S2 (April/May) | Semiotics | 120 | |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Understand a wide range of approaches to semiotic analysis, both within and beyond linguistics.
- Demonstrate mastery of key linguistic and semiotic concepts in their relation to one another.
- Effectively and accurately communicate information about the science of signs, in the human dimension and beyond.
- Formulate research questions regarding semiotic analysis, and demonstrate an understanding of how these questions can be addressed.
- Assess the scholarly reputability of individual articles and books in the field.
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Reading List
General bibliography: Marc Champagne, ¿Semiotics¿, Oxford Bibliographies https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780195396577/obo-9780195396577-0179.xml
Readings in advance of meetings (partial list; all readings available online, either directly or via DiscoverEd):
Stephan Meier-Oeser, 'Medieval semiotics', The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2011 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.): https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2011/entries/semiotics-medieval/
John Locke, Essay on Human Understanding (1690), 'The division of the sciences', Book IV, ch. 21: https://www.earlymoderntexts.com/assets/pdfs/locke1690book4.pdf; 'The signification of words', Book III, ch. 2: https://www.earlymoderntexts.com/assets/pdfs/locke1690book3.pdf
Ferdinand de Saussure, 'Place of language in human facts', Introduction, Ch. III, Sec, 3, pp. 15-17; 'General principles' Part One, pp. 65-70 of Course in General Linguistics (1916), trans. by Wade Baskin: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/cb41/a70d25abce8718dd680894c8c68edfb3ffe5.pdf (The full version of the book is now available on https://circulosemiotico.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/signs-in-society-studies-in-semiotic-anthropology.pdf
Valentin N. Voloshinov, Marxism and the Philosophy of Language (1929), trans. by L. Matejka & I. R. Titunik, Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press (1973), pp. 22-24, 58-63: https://monoskop.org/images/8/86/Volosinov_VN_Marxism_and_the_Philosophy_of_Language.pdf
John E. Joseph, 'The arbre-tree sign: Pictures and words in counterpoint in the Cours de lin-guistique générale', Semiotica 217 (2017), pp. 147-171.
C. S. Peirce, Letter to Victoria Welby (1904): https://www.unav.es/gep/Welby12.10.04.html
Émile Benveniste, 'Semiology' ch. 1 of Last Lectures: Collège de France, 1968 and 1969, trans. by John E. Joseph, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press (2019), pp. 74-90.
Richard J. Parmentier, 'Peirce divested for nonitimates', Semiotic Inquiry 7.1 (1987), repr. in Parmentier, Signs in Society: Studies in Semiotic Anthropology, Bloomington & Indian-apolis: Indiana University Press, 1994, pp. 3-22: https://circulosemiotico.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/signs-in-society-studies-in-semiotic-anthropology.pdf
Emanuele Fadda, 'Saussure and Peirce', The Bloomsbury Handbook of Saussure, ed. by John E. Joseph, London: Bloomsbury (forthcoming).
Victoria Welby, 'Sense, meaning and interpretation', Mind (1896) N.S. 5.17, pp. 24-37, and 5.18, pp. 186-202.
John E. Joseph, 'Meaning in the margins: Victoria Lady Welby and significs','Times Literary Supplement'no. 5686 (23 March 2012), pp.14-15.
C. K. Ogden & I. A. Richards, 'Thoughts, words and things', ch. 1 of The Meaning of Mean-ing, 3rd ed., London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co. (1930), pp. 1-23: https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.218422
Charles W. Morris, 'Semiosis and semiotic', Foundations of the Theory of Signs (1938), repr. in Morris, Writings on the General Theory of Signs, The Hague: Mouton, 1971, pp. 19-27.
John Dewey, 'Peirce's Theory of Linguistic Signs, Thought, and Meaning', Journal of Phi-losophy 43.4 (1946), pp. 85-95.
Sémir Badir, 'The Semiotic Hierarchy', Signo: http://www.signosemio.com/hjelmslev/semiotic-hierar-chy.asp#:~:text=SEMIOTICS%20AND%20NON%2DSEMIOTICS,in%20any%20language%20%5Blangage%5D.&text=Thus%20linguistics%2C%20with%20its%20three,is%20a%20science%20of%20categories.
Rachel Lawes, 'Big semiotics: Beyond signs and symbols', International Journal of Market Research 61.3 (2019), 252-265.
Roland Barthes, Elements of Semiology, trans. by Annette Lavers & Colin Smith, London: Jonathan Cape (1967).
Roland Barthes, Elements of Semiology, pp. 58-98.
Louis Hébert, 'The semiotic square', Signo: http://www.signosemio.com/greimas/semiotic-square.asp
Johanne Prud'homme & Lyne Légaré, 'The subject in process', Signo: http://www.signosemio.com/kristeva/subject-in-process.asp
Jakob von Uexküll, 'The theory of meaning', in Readings in Zoosemiotics, by Timo Maran et al., Berlin: Walter de Gruyter (2011), pp. 61-75.
Thomas A. Sebeok, 'Animal communication', Science Vol. 147, Issue 3661 (26 Feb 1965), pp. 1006-1014.
Kalevi Kull & Peeter Torop, 'Biotranslation: Translation between Umwelten', in Readings in Zoosemiotics, ed. by Timo Maran et al., Berlin: Walter de Gruyter (2011), pp. 411-425.
Per Durst-Andersen & Paul Cobley, 'The communicative wheel: Symptom, signal, and model in multimodal communication', Semiotica 225 (2018), 77-102.
Roger Dawkins, 'From the perspective of the object in semiotics: Deleuze and Peirce', Semi-otica 233 (2020), 1-18.
Cooperrider, K. (2023). Fifteen ways of looking at a pointing gesture. Public Journal of Se-miotics, 10(2): 40¿84. https://doi.org/10.37693/pjos.2023.10.25120
Omardeen, R., Mesh, K. & Steinbach, M. (2021). Initial person reference in Providence Is-land Sign Language. Glossa: A Journal of General Linguistics, 6(1).
Ferrara, L. & T. Johnston. (2014). Elaborating who's what: a study of constructed action and clause structure in Auslan (Australian Sign Language). Australian Journal of Linguistics, 34(2): 193-215, DOI: 10.1080/07268602.2014.887405
Kusters, A., Spotti, M., Swanwick, R. & E. Tapio. (2017). Beyond languages, beyond modali-ties: transforming the study of semiotic repertoires. International Journal of Multilin-gualism, 14(3): 219-232. DOI: 10.1080/14790718.2017.1321651
Boldt, G., & J. M. Valente. (2021). A-signifying semiotics and deaf/nondeaf becomings. In-ternational Journal of Multilingualism, 18(2): 303¿319. https://doi.org/10.1080/14790718.2020.1867557
Hodge, G. & L. Ferrara. (2022). Iconicity as multimodal, polysemiotic, and plurifunctional. Frontiers in Psychology, 13:808896. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.808896
Clark, J.L. (2017). Distantism. Wordgathering. https://wordgathering.syr.edu/past_issues/issue43/essays/clark.html
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Research and enquiry skills
Application of high-level concepts to the analysis of specific data
Understanding the theoretical significance of the data being analysed
Identifying the best support resources to use according to the task at hand
Personal and intellectual autonomy skills
Ability to carry out complex analyses independently
Ability to identify questions being raised by the data
Creativity and inventiveness in extending existing knowledge to new applications
Personal effectiveness
Ability to independently work on complex material over a sustained period of time
Communication skills
Ability to present complex specialist material from various angles, in a way that communicates it clearly without compromising intellectual complexity
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| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Prof John Joseph
Tel: (0131 6)50 3497
Email: |
Course secretary | Ms Susan Hermiston
Tel: (0131 6)50 3440
Email: |
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