This book offers a comprehensive exploration of language and semiotic ideologies, focusing on how societies construct meaning through verbal and non-verbal communication. It distinguishes itself by adopting a novel approach that bridges linguistics, semiotics, and anthropology. The research dives into uncharted territory, shedding light on the intricate connections between language, culture, and cognition, offering a perspective less common in traditional linguistics or semiotics. Throughout the book, the reader will encounter rare, illustrative examples showcasing the rich tapestry of human communication. Additionally, previously undisclosed historical data adds depth to the analysis, providing fresh insights. This work is designed for scholars seeking a deeper understanding of meaning-making processes and their cultural variations. It also serves as a resource for those interested in the complex interplay of language and semiotics in everyday life.

This book unlocks the hidden world of meaning in language and beyond. It explores the captivating realm of semiotic ideologies, revealing how societies shape meaning through words and other signs. From anthropology to semiotics, it illuminates diverse cultures and the intricate tapestry of human communication. Essential for scholars and curious minds alike.

Ideology is so powerful it makes us believe that war is rational, despite both its brutal means and its devastating ends. The power of ideology comes from its intimate relation to language: ideology recruits all semiotic modalities, but language is its engine-room. Drawing on Halliday’s linguistic theory – in particular, his account of the “semiotic big-bang” - this book explains the latent semiotic machinery of language on which ideology depends. The book illustrates the ideological power of language through a study of perhaps the most significant and consequential of our ideologies: those that enable us to legitimate, celebrate, even venerate war, at the same time that we abhor, denounce and proscribe violence. To do so, it makes use of large multi-register corpora (including the British National Corpus), and the reporting of the 2003 invasion of Iraq by Australian, US, European, and Asian news sources. Combining detailed text analysis with corpus linguistic methods, it provides an empirical analysis showing the astonishing reach of our ideologies of war and their profoundly covert and coercive power.

Signs, Dialogue and Ideology illustrates and critically examines — both historically and theoretically — the current state of semiotic discourse from Peirce to Bakhtin, through Saussure, Levinas, Schaff and Rossi-Landi to modern semioticians such as Umberto Eco.Ponzio is in search of a method to construct an appropriate language to talk about signs and ideology in this “end of ideology” era. Ponzio aims at an orientation in semiotics based on dialogism and interpretation by calling attention to the widespread transition from the semiotics of decodification to the semiotics of interpretations of signs which are not constrained by the dominant process of social reproduction. To this end the author draws on the literature on 'dialogue', 'otherness', 'linguistic work', 'critique of sign fetishism', and 'interpretative dynamics'.Critique of identity and critique of the subject reaffirm the 'objective', the material, the signifiant, the interpreted sign, the opus; i.e. the 'Otherness' as opposed to the expectation of exhaustiveness in the creation and interpretation of sign products.

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Bloomsbury Semiotics offers a state-of-the-art overview of the entire field of semiotics by revealing its influence on a wide range of disciplinary perspectives. With four volumes spanning theory, method and practice across the disciplines, this definitive reference work emphasizes and strengthens common bonds shared across intellectual cultures, and facilitates the discovery and recovery of meaning across fields. It comprises: Volume 1: History and Semiosis Volume 2: Semiotics in the Natural and Technical Sciences Volume 3: Semiotics in the Arts and Social Sciences Volume 4: Semiotic Movements Written by leading international experts, the chapters provide comprehensive overviews of the history and status of semiotic inquiry across a diverse range of traditions and disciplines. Together, they highlight key contemporary developments and debates along with ongoing research priorities. Providing the most comprehensive and united overview of the field, Bloomsbury Semiotics enables anyone, from students to seasoned practitioners, to better understand and benefit from semiotic insight and how it relates to their own area of study or research. Volume 4: Semiotic Movements explores relationships between semiotics and closely related contemporary movements, strengthening the dialogue and collaboration between them. The movements examined include communication theory, systems theory, digital humanities, phenomenology, translation studies, multimodality studies, cognitive linguistics, and cognitive science.

Ancient authors debated proper verbal and non-verbal signs as representations of divinity. These understanding of signs were based on ideas drawn from language and thus limited due to a their partial understanding of the multi-functionality of signs. Charles S. Peirce’s semiotics, as adapted by anthropological linguists including Michael Silverstein, better explains the contextual linkages ("performativity") of ancient religious signs such as divine names. Sign meaning is always dependent on processes of interpretation and is always open to reinterpretation. Focusing on these processes permits a more detailed analysis of the ancient evidence. Examples are drawn from ancient Israelite verbal and non-verbal divine representation, the apostle Paul’s linguistic letter/spirit model, Christian debates about the limits of language to best represent the deity, Josephus’ aniconic advertisement of Jewish rites, the multi-layered divine representations in the Dura-Europos synagogue, the diverse "performativity" of Jewish ascent liturgies, and—the single modern example—the role of art at Burning Man. Divine representation is the basis for ritual efficacy even as sign meaning is a constant source of contention.