Search results for "Semiotics"
showing 10 items of 438 documents
Semiotica dello spazio, semiotica della città
2022
The paper will provide an overview of the semiotics of space as it has been investigated in Italy in the last twenty years. After identifying the semiotic relevance in the study of space, the distinction between objectivating and subjectivating conceptions is recalled, stressing how these two kinds of spatiality are such only by virtue of effects of meaning constructed by and in texts. We then examine two macro lines of research on which semiotics has focused: those on spatiality described and constructed in various types of narrative (space in the text) and those on experienced spatiality (space as text). The second part of the contribution is dedicated to a spatial text that, due to its c…
Structure/Structuralism
2020
The first issue of Word, the Journal of the Linguistic Circle of New York, published in April 1945 by Roman Jakobson and André Martinet, both exiles living in the USA, features one of the first articles by Claude Lévi-Strauss (1958) (L’analyse structurale en linguistique et en anthropologie) and the last essay by Ernst Cassirer (2002) (Structuralism in Modern Linguistics), who died a few weeks before its publi cation. This is the official birth of structuralism, a term seemingly coined by the author of Philosophie der symbolischen Formen in his posthumous essay with its testimonial quality.
How Sicily Made Its Sweet Symbols: Glocal Identity and Food
2021
Food is an effective symbol capable of strongly evoking a cultural identity. In the case of Sicily, this role is mainly played by pastry, and in particular by two sweets: cannolo (the singular of cannoli) and cassata. But how does it happen that just these two preparations, rather than others, take on this value? What are their meanings and what determines them? Are cannolo and cassata the expression of a remote and spontaneous tradition as we generally like to believe? Semiotic analysis not only leads us to understand the complexity of these two pieces of a gastronomy, but also to reflect on the whole notion of symbol, rethinking its limits and possibilities.
Revisiting rainfall to explore exam questions and performance on CS1
2015
The Rainfall problem comprises small tasks that have been used to investigate student performance in introductory programming. We conducted several kinds of analyses to inform our understandings of student performance in CS1 relating to this problem. We analyzed implementation approaches and program errors, as in related studies, and also explored the role of test writing vis-a-vis the most common student error. Finally, using correlation analyses and manual inspection of the exam answers, we studied how well the Rainfall problem served as an exam question. The students' implementation choices reflected their familiarity with particular loop constructs, while the single most common error co…
Simplicity and the art of something more: A cognitive-semiotic approach to simplicity and complexity in human-technology interaction and design exper…
2018
In human–technology interaction, the balance between simplicity and complexity has been much discussed. Emphasis is placed on the value of simplicity when designing for usability. Often simplicity is interpreted as reductionism, which compromises both the affective nature of the design and usability itself. This paper takes a cognitive–semiotic approach toward understanding the dynamics between the utilitarian benefits of simplicity in design and the art of something more: considerate complexity. The cognitive–semiotic approach to human–technology design experience is a vehicle for explaining the relationship between simplicity and complexity, and this relationship’s multisensory character …
Exploring aesthetics, design, and experience in the age of semiotic technology
2018
Semiotics undergirds understanding of how people experience life (in both general and specific contexts) and thus impacts choices in regard to technology and its design. The papers in this issue draw on historical and contemporary scholarship of philosophy, practices, and theories in aesthetics, embodiment, and art experience in exploring the intersection of humans and technology.
Visibility without voice: Media witnessing irregular migrants in BBC online news journalism
2016
In the analysis of journalistic representation of irregular migration to Europe, rather little attention is given to the variation of modes and genres of journalism. Most studies focus on text in ‘old media’ and the news genre. This article analyses affordances of different modalities and genres of online journalism in framing irregular migrants. Media framing in BBC online news coverage of a mediatised conflict in Spain, defined as a ‘migration crisis’, is analysed with multimodal social semiotics. While mediation makes global audiences witness tragedies at Europe's borders and online journalism affords more voice and deliberation for migrant sources, the frames of threat and victim domina…
Tattoo branding
2018
Questo contributo indaga una pratica specifica di quelle che riguardano la body modification: il branding, ovvero la marchiatura a fuoco del corpo. Si confronta questo fenomeno con quello del tatuaggio tradizionalmente inteso, dal punto di vista espressivo (modelli di corpo, forme della marchiatura) e dei significati sociali connessi (valorizzazioni sociali e storiche della marchiatura a fuoco), con un confronto anche con altre pratiche di marchiatura a fuoco (su cose e animali).
Tv e cultura locale. Uno studio di caso: generi e tendenze della programmazione televisiva siciliana
2016
Questa indagine è uno studio sull’offerta televisiva locale siciliana ed è condotta su un ristretto numero di emittenti allo scopo di approfondire alcuni aspetti del panorama mediatico regionale. Il commitente della ricerca è il Co.re.com. Sicilia – Comitato Regionale per le Comunicazioni, che con questo studio, svolto tra il 2015 e il 2016, ha voluto compiere una ricognizione e una valutazione della qualità dei programmi della tv siciliana. Attraverso interviste di tipo qualitativo, condotte sulla base di una batteria di domande a risposta aperta, rivolte a direttori ed editori di emittenti regionali, e attraverso una disamina dei palinsesti, si è condotta una ricognizione dello stato dei …
La traduction des métaphores: le cas de Kassandra de Christa Wolf
2012
This paper analyzes, in a comparative way, the conceptual metaphors (Lakoff and Johnson, 1998) used in the German text «Kassandra» of Christa Wolf and in its Italian translation. The metaphors’ translation is important for two reasons. First it shows the socio-cultural aspects that turn around the source language and the target language. On the other hand, it can investigate the role of the language and the linguistic choices. This paper will analyze the metaphors’ translations using a mixed approach, both cognitive linguistics and semiotics but it also focuses on the translation theories. The analysis of metaphors allows us to understand better the comprehension of communicative intentiona…