Search results for "Semiotics"

Discourse markers and modality in spoken Catalan: The case of (és) clar

2012

Abstract The present paper illustrates the fuzzy limits between modality markers and discourse markers by analysing the different uses based on the word clar ‘clear’ in oral Catalan. Clar is lexically described as an adjective, but it has developed different functions in various syntactic and pragmatic contexts. In the adverbial and the interjective uses, (es) clar (que) ‘it is clear that’ is a modality marker indicating certainty and shared knowledge. As a conjunction, clar que has developed a concessive meaning (‘but, nevertheless’). When (es) clar acts as a discourse marker (i.e. introducing an utterance) it can be an effective mitigation device used to soften a potentially face-threaten…

Representing Time: An Essay on Temporality as Modality

2009

Grandmother cells: much ado about nothing

2016

International audience; We do not dispute the possibility of the existence in the brain of “grandmother cells”, which are very finely tuned neurons that fire only in the presence of specific objects or categories. However, we question the causal efficacy of such neurons at the functional or behaviour level. We claim that, even though very familiar items, such as “my grandmother”, may well have associated grandmother neurons, these neurons have very little, or no impact on the actual recognition of my grandmother. A study by Thomas, Van Hulle, and Vogels [(2002). Encoding of categories by noncategory-specific neurons in the inferior temporal cortex. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 13, 190…

Book review: Jane Gravells, Semiotics and Verbal Texts: How the News Media Construct a Crisis

2018

Transitivity prominence within and across modalities

2020

The idea of transitivity as a scalar phenomenon is well known (e.g., Hopper & Thompson 1980; Tsunoda 1985; Haspelmath 2015). However, as with most areas of linguistic study, it has been almost exclusively studied with a focus on spoken languages. A rare exception to this is Kimmelman (2016), who investigates transitivity in Russian Sign Language (RSL) on the basis of corpus data. Kimmelman attempts to establish a transitivity prominence hierarchy of RSL verbs, and compares this ranking to the verb meanings found in the ValPal database (Hartmann, Haspelmath & Bradley 2013). He arrives at the conclusion that using the frequency of overt objects in corpus data is a successful measure o…

The audio describer as a cultural mediator

2017

AbstractAudio Description (AD) is a modality of audiovisual translation that consists of making cultural products accessible to people who are blind or partially-sighted. Our study focuses on the contrastive analysis of the AD of four films in English and Spanish, our objective being to determine how the same visual cultural reference is described in two languages and for two target cultures. Using a descriptive methodology, we categorise and analyse cultural references followingDíaz Cintas and Remael’s (2007)classification and determine the translation strategies used. Our research shows that the decisions that the describer makes are conditioned by the distance, not only geographical but …

Bilingual practices and the social organisation of video gaming activities

2010

Abstract Grounded in the interactional paradigm for the study of bilingual language use, this paper investigates how players engaged in a collaborative game-playing activity orient to the co-presence of two languages in the setting and deploy bilingual resources in organising their action and participation. The analysis aims to demonstrate how a particular kind of ‘bilingual order’ ( Cromdal, 2005 ) is co-constructed in which the players use their native language (Finnish) for interaction with each other, but systematically draw on the language of the game in constructing their turns as recognisable and building their alignments with respect to activities under way. The analysis highlights …

Proximal and distal. Rethinking linguistic form and use for clinical purposes.

2010

With clinical purposes in mind, a review of the proximal/distal opposition is carried out in order to define a universal parameter of variability in semiotic procedures. By taking into consideration different-although notionally inter-related-senses of the proximal/distal opposition, a cluster of semiotic properties is proposed, which initially permits one to characterize dimensions of variability in the form and use of gestures. The subsequent and central aim of this paper is, however, to demonstrate that the same, or homologous, properties can also serve to characterize variability in the use of language, by assuming a basic connection between gesturing and linguistic behaviour. The main …

Edusemiotics of meaningful learning experience: Revisiting Kant’s pedagogical paradox and Greimas’ semiotic square

2016

AbstractIn this article we examine the educational process and learning from the edusemiotic point of view in terms of meaningful experience and meaningful action. A conception of meaningful experience is central in many branches of educational thinking, from pragmatism to existentialism. We analyze this conception from two traditional and somewhat remote perspectives, utilizing some themes of Kant’s educational philosophy on the one hand and Greimas’ semiotics on the other. Kant’s views of human formative powers – Bildung – will be described as a basic philosophy of learning experience. Kant’s theory is then critiqued from the perspective of existentialist educational philosophy. Concepts …

Food design chez Bras

2016

AbstractIt is not easy to say what food design is. Contemporary design finds in food a playground that gives new incitements but, at the same time, presents relevant challenges. Of course, there are several “objects” involved in food consumption and preparation, but more frequently food design means also working on edible substances and on the communication artifacts that come with them. The question then is: can we think about food as the result of a project? Analyzing the artifacts – from the logo to the dishes – that Michel Bras has constructed and through which he has raised his identity as a chef, in this paper I will advance the thesis that not only a theory of food designing is conce…