{"id":567,"date":"2010-06-14T10:00:20","date_gmt":"2010-06-14T08:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/elanguage.net\/blogs\/booknotices\/?p=567"},"modified":"2010-04-07T10:57:10","modified_gmt":"2010-04-07T08:57:10","slug":"key-terms-in-semiotics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/?p=567","title":{"rendered":"Key terms in semiotics"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"margin-left: 2em; text-indent: -2em;\"><strong>Key terms in semiotics.<\/strong> By <strong>Bronwen Martin<\/strong> and <strong>Felizitas Ringham<\/strong>. New York: Continuum, 2006. Pp. 275. ISBN <a href=\"http:\/\/www.worldcat.org\/title\/key-terms-in-semiotics\/oclc\/62478405&amp;referer=brief_results\">9780826484567<\/a>. $27.95.<\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\">Reviewed by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.neiu.edu\/~linguist\/faculty.html\"><strong>Richard W. Hallett<\/strong><\/a>, <em>Northeastern Illinois University<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Seeing the boundary between linguistics and semiotics as \u2018extremely fluid\u2019 (1), Bronwen<strong> <\/strong>Martin and Felizitas<strong> <\/strong>Ringham claim \u2018the theory [of semiotics] purports to explore the generation of signification in all its forms\u2019 and add \u2018semiotics thus covers all disciplines and signifying systems as well as all social practices\u2019 (2). The purpose of their book is, accordingly, to familiarize readers with the semiotic approach.<\/p>\n<p>The introduction (1\u201316) presents some of the basics of semiotics. For example, the authors briefly discuss the differences and increasing convergences between the American and European branches of the discipline; mention the contributions of some scholars in the field such as Ferdinand de Saussure, Louis Hjelmslev, Claude L\u00e9vi-Strauss, and Algirdas Julien Greimas; and explain important concepts like canonical narrative schema and the semiotic square.<\/p>\n<p>Section 2, \u2018Key terms in semiotics\u2019 (17\u2013211), comprises the bulk of the text. Four hundred and eight entries for semiotic concepts are provided in alphabetical order, from <em>absence<\/em> (17) to <em>zoosemiotics<\/em> (211). All of the terms are defined and exemplified. Many of the examples in the entries make reference to a wide variety of literary works that range from current fiction to seemingly universal fairy tales.<\/p>\n<p>Following the key terms is a section entitled \u2018Key thinkers in semiotics\u2019 (212\u201348). In this portion, short biographies are provided for Roland Barthes, Noam Chomsky, Umberto Eco, Algirdas Julien Greimas, Louis Hjelmslev, Roman Jakobson, Julia Kristeva, Claude L\u00e9vi-Strauss, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Charles Sanders Peirce, Vladimir Propp, and Ferdinand de Saussure. The next section, \u2018Key texts in semiotics\u2019 (249\u201353), presents a bibliography containing 107 references. The appendix (254\u201375) contains two parts: the fairy tale of \u201cSleeping beauty\u201d (254\u201356) and \u2018A semiotic analysis of the fairy-tale <em>Sleeping Beauty<\/em>: An example of the Greimassian approach\u2019 (257\u201375).<\/p>\n<p>With its myriad examples and useful definitions, this volume will be a nice supplement not only for an introductory course in semiotics but also for courses on discourse studies. Linguists working on semiotic analyses will welcome this handy reference book.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Key terms in semiotics. By Bronwen Martin and Felizitas Ringham. New York: Continuum, 2006. Pp. 275. ISBN 9780826484567. $27.95. Reviewed by Richard W. Hallett, Northeastern Illinois University Seeing the boundary between linguistics and semiotics as \u2018extremely fluid\u2019 (1), Bronwen Martin and Felizitas Ringham claim \u2018the theory [of semiotics] purports to explore the generation of signification [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=567"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":568,"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567\/revisions\/568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}