Postgraduate Course: Semiotics MSc (LASC11183)
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 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | Semiotics is the science of signs. Throughout the development of this science, people have argued about whether it must include the producer of the sign, human or non-human; whether the production must be intended; whether there must be at least one other being to whom the sign is communicated? And what is the meaning of a sign? The thing referred to, or the mental representation of it - in which case is a word, for example, a sign of a sign, rather than of a thing? These same questions underlie modern linguistic inquiry, and this course aims to enrich our understanding of language by examining the full range of channels in which representation and communication occur. |
| Course description |
Semiotics is the science of signs, within and beyond language. Linguistics has been twinned with semiotics throughout its 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
- 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 extending 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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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: 0 |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 22,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 11,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
163 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
50 %,
Coursework
50 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Formative Feedback Assignment in preparation for research paper - 10% - 500 words«br /»
Research paper on one of the topics/ approaches covered on the course - 40% - 2000 words«br /»
Final examination - 50% |
| Feedback |
Formative Feedback Assignment due after Week 5, with individual and group feedback to follow by Week 7 |
| No Exam Information |
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
Week 1. Mediaeval traditions; Locke
- 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
Week 2. Saussure
- 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 linguistique générale', Semiotica 217 (2017), pp. 147-171.
Week 3. Peirce
- 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 & Indianapolis: 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).
Week 4. Welby; Ogden & Richards
- 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 Meaning, 3rd ed., London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co. (1930), pp. 1-23: https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.218422
Week 5. Morris; Hjelmslev
- 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 Philosophy 43.4 (1946), pp. 85-95.
- Sémir Badir, 'The Semiotic Hierarchy', Signo: http://www.signosemio.com/hjelmslev/semiotic-hierarchy.asp#:~:text=SEMIOTICS%20AND%20NON%2DSEMIOTICS,in%20any%20language%20%5Blangage%5D.&text=Thus%20linguistics%2C%20with%20its%20three,is%20a%20science%20of%20categories.
Week 6. Paris structuralists I
- 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), pp. 1-57.
Week 7. Paris structuralists II
- 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
Week 8. Zoosemiotics and biosemiotics
- 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.
Week 9. Object semiotics; multimodal communication
- 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', Semiotica 233 (2020), 1-18.
Week 10. The semiotics of indexicality - Semiotics and language evolution
Week 11. Semiotics and discourse analysis - Summary and conclusion of course
General bibliography:
- Marc Champagne, 'Semiotics', Oxford Bibliographies https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780195396577/obo-9780195396577-0179.xml |
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 |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Prof John Joseph
Tel: (0131 6)50 3497
Email: John.Joseph@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | |
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