Semiotics and Discourse Studies

In this paper, I would like to discuss the contribution that post-structuralist semiotics has brought to the analysis of academic discourse. The semiotic model was developed initially for the analysis of tales and myths. It has been gradually extended to various forms of fiction (novels, short stories), and then, according to "a growing degree of complexity and abstraction", to all "forms of social production of meaning" (p. 5). This is the project stated in the first pages to a book entitled “Introduction to Discourse Analysis in Social Sciences” (A.J. Greimas & E. Landowski eds, 1979). The generalized extension is based on a typology of discourses that has been illustrated by specific analyses published in the 1980s (Bastide 1981, Bastide & Fabbri 1985, Landowski 1986, Bordron 1987). One may be considered that the research project led by Greimas and Landowski is thus located at the farthest point of development and initial application of the model and it is therefore a test for the narrative hypothesis. In doing so, the semiotic approach took the risk of being confronted with other models of analysis, such as they were elaborated in theoretical frameworks resulting from rhetoric (renewed in the 1950s by Chaim Perelman and his school ), pragmatics (cf Parret 1983 & 1987), sociology of knowledge (from the founding work of Berger & Luckmann 1966), or as they relate to other theoretical currents in the language sciences (in particular, In France, the Althusserian discourse analysis). For the discourse in social sciences, these models offer two advantages over that of semiotics: on the one hand, it seems that the theoretical postulates on which they are worked out are more directly in accord with this type of discourse; on the other hand, they can count on a solid tradition of studies to ensure the sustainability of the results. Nevertheless, the model of semiotic analysis is original and it has also an advantage: it is general. I will put forward the benefits of this generality.---------------------------------------------------------------------------------Semiótica e Estudos do DiscursoNeste artigo, eu gostaria de discutir a contribuição que a semiótica pós-estruturalista deu à análise do discurso acadêmico. O modelo semiótico foi desenvolvido inicialmente para as análises de fábulas e mitos. Ele tem sido gradualmente estendido às várias formas de ficção (romances, contos) e, então, de acordo com “um grau de crescimento de complexidade e abstração”, para todas as “formas de produção social de sentido” (p. 5). Este é o projeto declarado nas primeiras páginas de um livro intitulado “Introdução à Análise do Discurso nas Ciências Sociais” (A. J. Greimas & E. Landowski (eds), 1979). A extensão generalizada toma como base uma tipologia de discursos que tem sido ilustrada por análises específicas publicadas nos anos 1980 (Bastide, 1981; Bastide & Fabbri, 1985; Landowski, 1986; Bordron, 1987). Pode-se considerar que o projeto de pesquisa liderado por Greimas e Landowski está então localizado no ponto mais distante do desenvolvimento e aplicação inicial do modelo e, portanto, é um teste para a hipótese narrativa. Ao fazê-lo, a abordagem semiótica correu o risco de ser confrontada com outros modelos de análises, tais como foram elaborados na perspectiva teórica resultante da retórica (renovado nos anos 1950 por Chaim Perelman e sua escola), da pragmática (cf. Parret, 1983 & 1987), da sociologia do conhecimento (pelo trabalho fundador de Berger & Luckmann, 1966), ou como elas se relacionam com outras correntes teóricas nas ciências da linguagem (em particular, na França, a análise do discurso althusseriana). Quanto ao discurso nas ciências sociais, esses modelos oferecem duas vantagens sobre a semiótica: por um lado, parece que os postulados teóricos nos quais são trabalhados estão diretamente de acordo com esse tipo de discurso; por outro lado, eles podem contar com uma sólida tradição dos estudos para garantir a sustentabilidade dos resultados. Mesmo assim, o modelo de análise semiótica é original e tem também uma vantagem: ela é geral. Apresentarei os benefícios dessa generalidade. ---DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.22409/gragoata.2017n44a1033

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An Overview of the Process in Conducting Research in Social Sciences Using Discourse Studies Perspective

sjesr ◽

10.36902/sjesr-vol3-iss3-2020(162-168) ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 3 (3) ◽

pp. 162-168

Author(s):

Dr. Muhammad Sabboor Hussain ◽

Faryal Gill ◽

Madiha Afzal

Keyword(s):

Social Sciences ◽

Discourse Analysis ◽

Critical Discourse Analysis ◽

Research Process ◽

Body Of Knowledge ◽

Maximum Benefit ◽

Discourse Studies ◽

Theoretical Paper ◽

Conducting Research ◽

Almost All

This theoretical paper aims to give an overview of the research process involved in researching Social Sciences using the Discourse Studies perspective. Discourse Studies (DS), Discourse Analysis (DA), and Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) have been emerging disciplines in recent times which tend to be interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary, transdisciplinary, and cross-disciplinary and almost all the disciplines in social sciences and some under natural sciences can benefit from them immensely. The paper attempts to build a robust theoretical framework and give future researchers useful guidelines who may want to utilize the principles and practices under DS, DA, and CDA to reach valid findings and give strong recommendations while researching in their disciplines. It will help the researchers contribute to the existing body of knowledge under the umbrella of the fast-emerging disciplines of DS, DA, and CDA by analyzing data to reach striking findings for the maximum benefit of their studies' stakeholders.

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Análisis del discurso y hermenéutica como métodos en la interpretación de textos

Interpretatio. Revista de Hermenéutica ◽

10.19130/iifl.it.2020.5.1.0003 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 5 (1) ◽

pp. 17-34

Author(s):

Adriana Bolívar

Keyword(s):

Social Sciences ◽

Discourse Analysis ◽

The Other ◽

Critical Discourse ◽

Text Interpretation ◽

Critical Discourse Studies ◽

Discourse Studies ◽

Humanities And Social Sciences ◽

Young Researchers

In this article we give attention to text interpretation from the perspectives of discourse analysis and hermeneutics because these disciplines provide theoretical and methodological bases for texts analysis in a wide variety of projects both in the humanities and social sciences. As in both cases we are faced with interdisciplinarity, we examine some tensions that arise when attempts are made by one discipline to dominate over the other. The objective is to offer some guidance to young researchers about what following either of these traditions means. The position of some critical discourse analysts related to the claim that hermeneutics today needs to look at linguistics and discourse analysis to renew itself is examined, to which we add the need to give more attention to dialogue analysis in critical discourse studies. Closer collaboration between researchers in both disciplines is suggested.

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From Fieldwork to Research Theory on an Indian Pilgrimage

Fieldwork in Religion ◽

10.1558/firn.v1i2.105 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 1 (2) ◽

pp. 105-121 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Rémy Delage

Keyword(s):

Social Sciences ◽

Random Sampling ◽

South India ◽

Scientific Discourse ◽

The Other ◽

Critical Reading ◽

Major Research ◽

Research Hypothesis ◽

Sources Of Knowledge ◽

The One

Using as the example of the pilgrimage to Sabarimala (Kerala, South India), I propose here to explore the links existing between sources, research hypothesis and research theory in social sciences. The choice of research materials in the process of investigation, sources of knowledge about the studied object, is not mere random sampling; it is processed in accordance with the questions of the researcher. It inevitably assumes a selective dimension. After a critical reading of the sources used by Indian studies, I will highlight on the connections between the sources and the methodological tools on the one hand, and the major research hypothesis about pilgrimage on the other. The links between the data taken from the field and the legitimacy of scientific discourse on India will be examined at the end before providing some keys for the interpretation of Sabarimala phenomenon in South India during the contemporary period.

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Making it abstract, making it contestable: Gender/sex as a politicized concept

10.31234/osf.io/u6wd2 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Claudia Mazzuca ◽

Matteo Santarelli

Keyword(s):

Social Sciences ◽

Main Question ◽

Abstract Concepts ◽

Biological Feature ◽

Dynamic Approach ◽

Cognitive Sciences ◽

Long Time ◽

Cultural Construct ◽

Science Framework ◽

The One

The concept of gender has been the battleground of scientific and political speculations for a long time. On the one hand, some accounts contended that gender is a biological feature, while on the other hand some scholars maintained that gender is a socio-cultural construct (e.g., Butler, 1990; Risman, 2004). Some of the questions that animated the debate on gender over history are: how many genders are there? Is gender rooted in our biological asset? Are gender and sex the same thing? All of these questions entwine one more crucial, and often overlooked interrogative. How is it possible for a concept to be the purview of so many disagreements and conceptual redefinitions? The question that this paper addresses is therefore not which specific account of gender is preferable. Rather, the main question we will address is how and why is even possible to disagree on how gender should be considered. To provide partial answers to these questions, we suggest that gender/sex (van Anders, 2015; Fausto-Sterling, 2019) is an illustrative example of politicized concepts. We show that no concepts are political in themselves; instead, some concepts are subjected to a process involving a progressive detachment from their supposed concrete referent (i.e., abstractness), a tension to generalizability (i.e., abstraction), a partial indeterminacy (i.e., vagueness), and the possibility of being contested (i.e., contestability). All of these features differentially contribute to what we call the politicization of a concept. In short, we will claim that in order to politicize a concept, a possible strategy is to evidence its more abstract facets, without denying its more embodied and perceptual components (Borghi et al., 2019). So, we will first outline how gender has been treated in psychological and philosophical discussions, to evidence its essentially contestable character thereby showing how it became a politicized concept. Then we will review some of the most influential accounts of political concepts, arguing that currently they need to be integrated with more sophisticated distinctions (e.g., Koselleck, 2004). The notions gained from the analyses of some of the most important accounts of political concepts in social sciences and philosophy will allow us to implement a more dynamic approach to political concepts. Specifically, when translated into the cognitive science framework, these reflections will help us clarifying some crucial aspects of the nature of politicized concepts. Bridging together social and cognitive sciences, we will show how politicized concepts are abstract concepts, or better abstract conceptualizations.

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Defending the Difference

10.1093/oso/9780198796220.003.0004 ◽

2017 ◽

Keyword(s):

Social Sciences ◽

Natural Sciences ◽

Point Of View ◽

True Nature ◽

Natural Entities ◽

The Social ◽

The World ◽

Methodological Difference ◽

The Difference ◽

The One

Dreyfus argues that there is a basic methodological difference between the natural sciences and the social sciences, a difference that derives from the different goals and practices of each. He goes on to argue that being a realist about natural entities is compatible with pluralism or, as he calls it, “plural realism.” If intelligibility is always grounded in our practices, Dreyfus points out, then there is no point of view from which one can ask about or provide an answer to the one true nature of ultimate reality. But that is consistent with believing that the natural sciences can still reveal the way the world is independent of our theories and practices.

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Theoretical Modelling of Ion Exchange Processes in Glass: Advances and Challenges

Applied Sciences ◽

10.3390/app11115070 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (11) ◽

pp. 5070

Author(s):

Xesús Prieto-Blanco ◽

Carlos Montero-Orille

Keyword(s):

Ion Exchange ◽

Diffusion Coefficients ◽

Molten Salts ◽

Theoretical Modelling ◽

Copper Films ◽

Theoretical Frameworks ◽

Self Diffusion ◽

Exchange Processes ◽

The One ◽

Made In

In the last few years, some advances have been made in the theoretical modelling of ion exchange processes in glass. On the one hand, the equations that describe the evolution of the cation concentration were rewritten in a more rigorous manner. This was made into two theoretical frameworks. In the first one, the self-diffusion coefficients were assumed to be constant, whereas, in the second one, a more realistic cation behaviour was considered by taking into account the so-called mixed ion effect. Along with these equations, the boundary conditions for the usual ion exchange processes from molten salts, silver and copper films and metallic cathodes were accordingly established. On the other hand, the modelling of some ion exchange processes that have attracted a great deal of attention in recent years, including glass poling, electro-diffusion of multivalent metals and the formation/dissolution of silver nanoparticles, has been addressed. In such processes, the usual approximations that are made in ion exchange modelling are not always valid. An overview of the progress made and the remaining challenges in the modelling of these unique processes is provided at the end of this review.

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Music to My Ears: A Material-semiotic Analysis of Fetal Heart Sounds in Midwifery Prenatal Care

Science Technology & Human Values ◽

10.1177/01622439211005176 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 016224392110051

Author(s):

Annekatrin Skeide

Keyword(s):

Social Sciences ◽

Prenatal Care ◽

Fetal Heart ◽

Well Being ◽

Analytical Tool ◽

Semiotic Analysis ◽

Parental Love ◽

The Social ◽

Care Practices ◽

The Aesthetic

Unlike sonographic examinations, sonic fetal heartbeat monitoring has received relatively little attention from scholars in the social sciences. Using the case of fetal heartbeat monitoring as part of midwifery prenatal care in Germany, this contribution introduces music as an analytical tool for exploring the aesthetic dimensions of obstetrical surveillance practices. Based on ethnographic stories, three orchestrations are compared in which three different instruments help audiences to listen to what becomes fetal heartbeat music and to qualify fetal and pregnant lives in relation to each other. In the Doppler-based orchestration, audible heartbeat music is taken as a sign of a child in need of parental love and care cultivated to listen. The Pinard horn makes esoteric fetal music that can be appreciated by the midwife as a skilled instrumentalist alone and helps to enact a child hidden in the belly. The cardiotocograph brings about soothing music and a reassuring relationship with a child but also durable scripts of juridical beauty. This material-semiotic analysis amplifies how well-being is shaped in midwifery prenatal care practices.

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Benson and Miller in Perspective

Social Science History ◽

10.1017/s0145553200022999 ◽

1979 ◽

Vol 3 (3-4) ◽

pp. 242-244 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Bruce Kuklick

Keyword(s):

Social Sciences ◽

Social Policy ◽

Applied Science ◽

The Other ◽

Social Knowledge ◽

The Past ◽

The Social ◽

The World ◽

The One ◽

Stock Of Knowledge

Despite differences in coloration Miller and Benson are birds of a feather. Although he is no Pollyanna, Miller believes that there has been a modest and decent series of advances in the social sciences and that the most conscientious, diligent, and intelligent researchers will continue to add to this stock of knowledge. Benson is much more pessimistic about the achievements of yesterday and today but, in turn, offers us the hope of a far brighter tomorrow. Miller explains Benson’s hyperbolic views about the past and future by distinguishing between pure and applied science and by pointing out Benson’s naivete about politics: the itch to understand the world is different from the one to make it better; and, Miller says, because Benson sees that we have not made things better, he should not assume we do not know more about them; Benson ought to realize, Miller adds, that the way politicians translate basic social knowledge into social policy need not bring about rational or desirable results. On the other side, Benson sees more clearly than Miller that the development of science has always been intimately intertwined with the control of the environment and the amelioration of the human estate.

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Teaching the Romanian neighbors Hungarian: language ideologies and the Debrecen Summer School

Multilingua ◽

10.1515/multi-2014-1030 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 35 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Attila Gyula Kiss

Keyword(s):

Discourse Analysis ◽

Summer School ◽

Teaching And Learning ◽

Language Ideologies ◽

Language Education ◽

Minority Language ◽

Ethnographic Study ◽

The One ◽

Hungarian Language ◽

Historical Discourses

AbstractThis article is a contribution to the hitherto scant literature on learning a historical minority language and on language ideologies in the context of a study abroad program in Hungary, Debrecen. I analyse the language ideologies of the decision makers in Hungary and in the Debrecen Summer School in relation to the teaching of Hungarian to the neighboring peoples. Drawing on interactional data of participants from Romania, the perspective of learning Hungarian as a historical minority language is examined. The present article combines a historical approach with language ideologies by focusing on an institution offering language education. Language ideologies are presented as they appear in the larger historical discourses, contemporary documents, and media interviews. I briefly outline the major turning points in the history of the institution which also reflects the changing language ideologies and cultural politics of Hungary. The qualitative discourse analysis of interviews and the conclusion of this ethnographic study demonstrate that language ideological positions in relation to the teaching and learning of Hungarian have been firmly located in historical and cultural contexts. Discourse analysis of various data demonstrates that, on the one hand, the course providers have espoused competing ideologies of who the learners should be as well as how to present the country and the culture, while, on the other hand, showing that the learners have had to negotiate prejudice and stereotype rooted in discourses about the often burdened history.

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