Handbook of Semiotics

Winfried Noth

Description

A Choice Outstanding Academic Book of 1991

"This is the most systematic discussion of semiotics yet published." —Choice

"A bravura performance." —Thomas Sebeok

"Nöth's handbook is an outstanding encyclopedia that provides first-rate information on many facets of sign-related studies, research results, and applications." —Social Sciences in General

History and Classics of Modern Semiotics

Sign and Meaning
Sign — Meaning, Sense, and Reference — Semantics and Semiotics — Topology of Signs: Sign, Signal, Index — Symbol — Icon and Iconicity — Metaphor — Information

Semiosis, Code, and the Semiotic Field
Zoosemiotics, Ethology, and Semiogenesis — Communication and Semiosis — Function — Magic — Structure — System — Code — Teaching

Language and Language-Based Codes
Verbal Communication: Introduction — Language in a Semiotic Frame — Arbitrariness and Motivation: The Language Sign — Paralanguage — Writing — Universal Language — Sign Language — Language Substitutes

From Structuralism to Text Semiotics: Schools and Major Figures
Introduction — Structuralism, Poststructuralism, and Neostructuralism — Russian Formalism, Prague School, Soviet Semiotics — Barthes's Text Semiotics — Greimas"s Structural Semantics and Text Semiotic Project — Kristeva's Semanalysis — Eco

Text Semiotics: The Field
Text Semiotics: Introduction — Hermeneutics and Exegesis — Rhetoric and Stylistics — Literature — Poetry and Poeticalness — Theater and Drama — Narrative — Myth — Ideology — Theology

Nonverbal Communication
Nonverbal Communication: Introduction — Gesture, "Body Language," and Kinesics — Facial Signs — Gaze — Tactile Communication — Proxemics: The Semiotics of Space — Chronemics: The Semiotics of Time

Aesthetics and Visual Communication
Aesthetics — Music — Architecture — Objects — Image — Painting — Photography — Film — Comics — Advertising

Sujets

• Literary Criticism
• PHILOSOPHY
• Linguistics
• Reference
• Literary theory
• Theory
• Semiotics
• Language
• Langage

Informations

• Publié par: Indiana University Press
• Date de parution: 22 septembre 1990
• Nombre de lectures: 3
• EAN13: 9780253116086
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 5 Mo

Extrait

HANDBOOK OF SEMIOTICS

This English-language edition is the enlarged and completely revised version of a work by Winfried N th originally published as Handbuch der Semiotik in 1985 by J. B. Metzlersche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Stuttgart.
This book is a publication of
Indiana University Press 601 North Morton Street Bloomington, IN 47404-3797 USA
http://www.indiana.edu/~iupress
Telephone orders 800-842-6796 Fax orders 812-855-7931 Orders by e-mail [e-mail]
First paperback edition 1995 1990 by Winfried N th All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. The Association of American University Presses Resolution on Permissions constitutes the only exception to this prohibition.
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984.
Manufactured in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Noth, Winfried.
[Handbuch der Semiotik. English]
Handbook of semiotics / Winfried N th.
p. cm. -(Advances in semiotics)
Enlarged translation of: Handbuch der Semiotik.
Bibliography: p.
Includes indexes.
ISBN 0-253-34120-5
1. Semiotics-handbooks, manuals, etc. 2. Communication-
handbooks, manuals, etc. I. Title. II. Series. P99.N6513 1990 302.2 dc20 89-45199 ISBN 0-253-20959-5 (pbk.)
5 6 7 8 9 05 04 03 02 01 00
CONTENTS

P REFACE
I NTRODUCTION
I. History and Classics of Modern Semiotics
History of Semiotics
Peirce
Morris
Saussure
Hjelmslev
Jakobson
II. Sign and Meaning
Sign
Meaning, Sense, and Reference
Semantics and Semiotics
Typology of Signs: Sign, Signal, Index
Symbol
Icon and Iconicity
Metaphor
Information
III. Semiosis, Code, and the Semiotic Field
Zoosemiotics, Ethology, and Semiogenesis
Communication and Semiosis
Function
Magic
Structure
System
Code
Teaching
IV. Language and Language-Based Codes
Verbal Communication: Introduction
Language in a Semiotic Frame
Arbitrariness and Motivation: The Language Sign
Paralanguage
Writing
Universal Language
Sign Language
Language Substitutes
V. From Structuralism to Text Semiotics: Schools and Major Figures
Introduction
Structuralism, Poststructuralism, and Neostructuralism
Russian Formalism, Prague School, Soviet Semiotics
Barthes s Text Semiotics
Greimas s Structural Semantics and Text Semiotic Project
Kristeva s Semanalysis
Eco
VI. Text Semiotics: The Field
Text Semiotics: Introduction
Hermeneutics and Exegesis
Rhetoric and Stylistics
Literature
Poetry and Poeticalness
Theater and Drama
Narrative
Myth
Ideology
Theology
VII. Nonverbal Communication
Nonverbal Communication: Introduction
Gesture , Body Language, and Kinesics
Facial Signals
Gaze
Tactile Communication
Proxemics: The Semiotics of Space
Chronemics: The Semiotics of Time
VIII. Aesthetics and Visual Communication
Aesthetics
Music
Architecture
Objects
Image
Painting
Photography
Film
Comics
Advertising

B IBLIOGRAPHY
I NDEX OF S UBJECTS AND T ERMS
I NDEX OF N AMES
PREFACE

A handbook with the ambitious objective of dealing with a vast field of research ranging from A(esthetics) to Z(ooethology) may be excused for beginning with a few apologetic remarks on the design of such a daring undertaking.

1. A Topography of Semiotics

Imagine you should have to describe [ ] the topography of a country about which there is hardly any certain knowledge. Neither the frontiers of this country are known, nor do we know whether it is a country in the traditional sense at all. Many claim that it is indeed a genuine country, even one that surpasses all known countries in beauty and riches, a country whose possession, once gained, would end all need. Others not only call this hope into question, but also consider the very existence of the country a mere utopia. But let us see further. Sources available for a topographic description are on the one hand certain reports by different authors. Every one of the authors lays claim to having discovered a new country, but it is uncertain whether they have the same country in mind. Indeed, they not only use different names for the newly discovered country, but also describe it in diverging ways. Moreover, several historians are of the opinion that the country in question has been discovered not only by these modern pioneers but much earlier, even in antiquity. There are still further sources in an immense number of writings giving a detailed description of some regions supposedly belonging to this country. But since these descriptions are mostly quite diverse-some, for example, presenting the landscape of a moorland or a rugged highland, others an urban landscape, and still others describing its flora and fauna-therefore one does not really know whether these are different regions and ecological areas of one and the same country or whether these are, instead, different countries.
With this poetic image, Peter Schmitter ( Kratylos 32 [1987]: 1) described the situation in which the author of this handbook found himself, embarking on the adventure of writing a Handbuch der Semiotik in the early 1980s (N th 1985). This handbook once more aims at the adventurous goal of a topographical survey of the main areas of theoretical and applied semiotics. The survey of the history and the present state of the art in this domain of research intends to be systematic, comprehensive, and up to date. Wherever limitations of space prevent a more extensive discussion, bibliographical references indicate further sources of orientation. Readers with particular terminological questions may find answers with the aid of the index of terms. With its comprehensive bibliography and detailed indexes of subjects and names, this handbook is intended to be useful as an encyclopedic reference book in semiotics.

2. A Pluralistic Approach
A project of such ambitious scope is likely to attract criticism from two opposing directions. Some will find that this handbook covers too little, neglecting areas of the semiotic field which they might find more important. These critics may occasionally be satisfied with the explicit acknowledgment of lacunae and appropriate further references (see, for example, Introduction 2.). Others will object that the handbook covers too much, including many topics or approaches that are not semiotic enough or perhaps are no longer sufficiently relevant to current developments in semiotics. Such criticism is expected from the disciples of particular schools of semiotics. Against these critics, it must be emphasized that the approach to semiotics adopted in this handbook is basically descriptive and pluralistic. Current trends in semiotics are quite heterogeneous, and it is not the intention of this handbook to conceal the great variety in approaches to the study of signs. Wherever necessary, differences will be emphasized. But wherever possible, the common foundations of these approaches and the interconnections among them will be pointed out.
This handbook is not a collection of critical review articles. A critical evaluation of the semiotic research under discussion is not one of its primary objectives. The critical reader should have ample opportunity to draw his or her own critical conclusions. On the other hand, the author is well aware of the impossibility of a totally value-neutral account of the state of the art. According to a principle of structuralist semiotics, any selection is an implicit evaluation, since it implies the rejection of all nonselected items. In this sense, this volume cannot escape being evaluative. However, the author hopes that the choice of the chapters and their comparative length is motivated less by his own personal preferences than by the degree of attention which the topics under discussion have attracted during the last few decades of semiotic research. Necessarily remaining lacunae are not always intended. Apart from the fact that a still more comprehensive account of the state of the art in semiotics exceeds the capabilities of an individual scholar, the author admits frankly that a report on some of the more specialized areas of semiotics, such as the semiotics of mathematics, is beyond his own qualification. For the same reason he has been unable to consult in the original the rich semiotic literature published in East European languages.

3. Handbook and Handbuch
This handbook has a precursor in my German Handbuch der Semiotik (Stuttgart: Metzler 1985). The very positive and sometimes enthusiastic (Sebeok 1986a, B r 1987) assessment of this publication in no fewer than twenty-five reviews has resulted in a Serbo-Croation translation (Belgrad: Globus) and the invitation for an English translation. In 1986, Thomas A. Sebeok and John Gallman of Indiana University Press persuaded me to take care of the English translation myself. However, beginning to work as my own translator, I soon discovered the truth of the Italian proverb Translator, traitor! ( traduttore tradittore .) It obliged me to completely rewrite the Handbuch of 1