Revisiting Harold Pinter’s The Caretaker: a Semiotic Study of the Dramatis Personae

Author(s):  
Khaled Besbes

Abstract: The present article sought to offer a semiotic analysis of Pinter’s The Caretaker’s characters as signifers in their own right. The article also aimed at studying the play’s dramatis personae as loci of multi-coded expressions, with a focus on the various modes of signifcation associated with them. Using semiotics as an analytical method, the author explored the linguistic and paralinguistic features of the characters’ discourses as signs in relation to the play’s pivotal themes, their kinesic and body expressions as indexical signs, as well as their distinctive proxemic behavior(s) onstage. Some attention was also given to the characters’ handling of stage props and the special meanings attached to them as replicators of character personality. The results of the discussion showed that using a semiotic approach to analyze The Caretaker’s characters can yield positive outcomes in terms of comprehensive analysis and interpretation of the characters as dynamic unities of interrelated sign-systems. Keywords: Pinter, semiotics, dramatis personae, linguistic, kinesic, proxemic

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 155-168
Author(s):  
Intan Siti Nugraha ◽  

COVID-19 has been reported to be risen in numbers of infected cases and deaths. The massive report by media and social network which focus on the spreading and infection may affect not only physical health but also individual’s and general population’s mental health, isolation and stigma. To eradicate COVID-19-related stigma and discrimination perpetuated by both individual and group of people, WHO exhibits some anti-stigma campaign posters. This study employs qualitative method to acquire deep investigation of meaning and to involve the social context. Thus, by using Roland Barthes’s semiotic approach, analyzing signifiers and signifieds, this study was aimed to unmask both denotative and connotative meanings of the stigma embed within the six health campaign posters of COVID-19 by Southeast Asia WHO. The analysis was focused not only on the verbal sign of posters (linguistic text), but also its relation to their visual sign (imagery messages). From the analysis of the two sign systems of posters, the result shows that the six posters connote acts of discriminatory behaviours, stigmatization, stereotype and blaming. Through the posters, WHO propagates people to work together to fight COVID-19 and to bring out the best humanity, to have better awareness and positive attitudes and appeals governments, citizens, media, key influencers of communities to have a role in preventing and to stop stigma surrounding in South-Asia and specifically in Indonesia which becomes the target of the poster viewers during the pandemic. Those messages are connoted through different font colors and sizes and the illustration on each poster.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Artur Seredin

Abstract This article applies the theory of archaeological semiotics to the study of the “Olmec” style. A semiotic approach differs from an iconographic study because it provides the possibility for complex analysis of all significant traits of material archeological objects without distinction between stylistic and iconographic traits. In this context, the semiotic analysis of the Olmec style as a sign system shows that its particular signs, which can be defined as stylistic traits because of the lack of specific iconographic meanings, simultaneously participated in the creation and transformation of cultural meanings. This phenomenon reflected the “macrosignified” of Formative Mesoamerican cultures, associated with a structure that linked together various meanings throughout the culture.


Author(s):  
Faisal Bin Salih Al Zahrani

ملخص البحث:   يعد الأدب العربي في إقليم الحجاز جزءاً من أدب الأمة العربية الجميل؛ لكن الدراسات الأدبية لا تزال غير كافية على الرغم من بذل بعض الباحثين جهوداً لجمع مادته الأدبية التي لا يزال كثير منها مخطوطاً أو مفقوداً أو مخفياً لأسباب متعددة. يبحث المنهج السيميائي عن المعنى من خلال البحث عن الاختلاف الداخلي للمعاني عبر المنهج السيميائي لتحليل الخطاب الشعري؛ وذلك من منطلق المنهج السيميائي في دراسة النصوص الشعرية والتي تؤكد أنها تتكون من نظام لغوي يعطي مجموعة من المعطيات الخاصة، وهذه الرؤية أسقطها المنهج السيميائي على أغلب النصوص الإبداعية، مع تميز النص الشعري بقدرته على اختزال المعنى، وتسعى هذه الدراسة إلى تتبع الشعر السياسي في الحجاز والوقوف على الدلالات التي يبرزها التحليل السيميائي من خلال المعنى الشعري، وذلك باتباع المنهج الوصفي التحليلي؛ حيث تبدأ بمقدمة تعرف ببعض المصطلحات الهامة مثل: إقليم الحجاز، السيميائية، الشعر السياسي، وستقوم عناصر التحليل لعدة مستوايات: تبدأ الخطاب العام، والمستوى المعجمي، والمستوى التركيبي، ثم المستوى التركيبي. الكلمات المفتاحية: الشعر السياسي - السيميائية - الخطاب العام - المستوى المعجمي- المستوى التركيبي. Abstract Arabic literature in Hijaz area is a part of magnificent Arabic literature. Much of literary works are still missing for many reasons despite the effort of some researchers in collecting and recording them. The semiotic approach looks into meaning by examining its internal differences through semiotic method to analyze poetic discourse. The semiotic approach helps in studying the poetic texts that reveal that it contains a language system that implies certain inputs. This very method helps to reveal such a perception on most of creative texts, with the distinction of the poetic text as having the ability to compress meaning. This paper aims at tracking the political poems in Hijaz and dwell on the meaning revealed by the semiotic analysis through the poetic meaning. The study makes use of the descriptive analysis method. It begins with the definition of some significant terms such as: Hijaz, semiotics, political poems; the analysis is based on certain levels: it begins with the general discourse, lexical and phrasal levels.   Keywords: Political poems, semiotics, general discourse, lexical level, phrasal level.     Abstrak Satera Arab di Hijaz adalah sebahagian daripada kesusasteraan yang gemilang. Namun masih banyak karya-karya yang masih hilang disebabkan banyak faktor walaupun usaha-usaha para pengkaji dalam mengumpul dan merekodkannya. Pendekatan semiotik ini melihat aspek makna dengan melihat perbezaan dalaman melalui metod semiotik untuk menganalisa wacana syair. Pendekatan ini juga menolong menyingkap sistem bahasa tertentu yang menandakan input tertentu. Ia juga menolong menyingkap untuk menyerlahkan persepsi tertentu tentang kebanyakan teks kreatif, terutamanya kelebihan teks puitis untuk memampatkan makna. Kajian ini bertujuan untuk mengesan syair-syair politik di Hijaz dan mengkaji makna yang diserlahkan melalui analisa maksud puitis. Kajian ini menggunakan metod analisa deskriptif. Ia dimulakan dengan definisi beberapa terma penting seperti: Hijaz, semiotic, syair politik; analisa yang dibuat adalah berdasarkan kepada beberapa tahap: ia bermula dengan wacana umum seterusnya tahap-tahap leksikal dan phrasa.    Kata kunci: Syair politik, semiotic, wacana umum, tahap leksikal, tahap frasa


2001 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 121-152
Author(s):  
Alf Hornborg

Ecosemiotics represents a theoretical approach to human ecology that can be applied across several disciplines. lts primary justification lies inthe ambition to transcend "Cartesian", conceptual dichotomies such as culture/nature. society/nature, mental/material. etc. It argues that ecosystems areconstituted no less by flows of signs than by flows of matter and energy. This paper discusses the roles of different kinds of hmnan sign systems in the ecologyof Amazonia, ranging from the phenomenology of unconscious sensations. through linguistic signs such as metaphors and ethnobiological taxonomies, to money and the political economy of environmental destruction. Human-environmental relations mediated by direct, sensory and (oral) linguistic communication have tended to enhance biological diversity, suggesting modes of calibrating the long-term co-evolution of human and non-human populations. Economic sign systems, on the other hand, have rapidly and drastically transfonned human-environmental relations in Amazonia to the point where the entire rainforest ecosystem is illlder threat. In detaching themselves from the direct, "face-to-face" communication between humans and their natural environments, flows of money and commodities - and the decontextualized knowledge systems that they engender - have no means of staying geared to the long-term negotiation of local, ecological co-existence. It is argued that the ongoing deterioration of the biosphere can be viewed as a problem of communication, deserving semiotic analysis.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (SPE2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rafik. R. Magdeev ◽  
Alina A. Khaliullina

It is necessary to conduct an analysis of relations between Japan and Russia to determine the main trends and prospects for joint development. The purpose of the article is to study and disclose the stages of development of cultural relations between Russia and Japan and determine its features, highlight the most pressing problems of relations and identify possible ways to build strong interstate relations. The methodological basis of the study is the analytical method, for a comprehensive analysis of the changes that occurred during the development of cultural relations between Japan and Russia. Also a prerequisite is compliance with the principles of historicism and objectivity. In the course of studying used the method of study and systematization of literature. As a result of studying the problem, we can evaluate the historical development of cultural relations between Russia and Japan. Assess the state of relations between Russia and Japan and uncover limitations and growth points to strengthen relations between Japan and Russia. The results of this study can be useful as Japanologists and to specialists dealing with the problems of Asia-Pacific as a whole.


2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 92-99
Author(s):  
А. А. Gruzdev ◽  

The history of art is marked by many experiments in expanding and contrasting different methods and concepts. Nevertheless, in recent years there have been increasing attempts to draw parallels between iconology and semiotics. Of particular interest is the so-called Erwin Panofsky method, which forms the basis of modern iconology. The article discusses various aspects of the use of the iconological method in connection with the semiotic analysis of artistic works. Both general questions of the formation of iconology and special questions of its application and synthesis in the context of semiotic analysis are highlighted. A brief overview of the main iconological principles in revealing the figurative and symbolic content of the work is given, and the main features of the structural mechanisms underlying the semiotic approach are summarized. The scientific novelty of the work is determined primarily by the fact that for the first time the peculiarities of the application of the iconological method as one of the tools of semiotic analysis are investigated. Semiotics and iconology have a wide range of application in the study of culture-specific relations, since in contemporary art criticism, there is a great scientific interest in understanding the artwork as a carrier of national-cultural information. All this increases the methodological possibilities for studying the artwork, and thus expands the boundaries of the historical study of fine art.


2020 ◽  
Vol 23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pablo Briñol ◽  
Richard E. Petty ◽  
Beatriz Gandarillas ◽  
Lorena Moreno

Abstract Can people improve their lives by smiling more, trying to have a better posture, and by thinking about good memories? Can individuals become more successful by deliberatively engaging in positive actions and thoughts? Do people feel better by following recommendations from naïve psychology? In the present article we discuss these questions, noting that although some popular interventions thought to be universally beneficial (e.g., inductions of happiness, self-affirmation, empowerment, self-distancing) can sometimes yield positive outcomes, at other times the outcomes can also be negative. Taking an empirical approach based on experimental evidence, we postulate that understanding the underlying processes discovered in the science of persuasion is the key for specifying why, when, and for whom these practical initiatives are more likely to work or to backfire.


Semiotica ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 (229) ◽  
pp. 69-85
Author(s):  
Simona Stano

AbstractA number of studies have investigated glossolalia from different points of view, dealing with its various occurrences in the religious, psychopathological, and – more recently – also poetic and musical domains. The impossibility of fully understanding such a phenomenon through a purely linguistic approach has then increasingly emerged, pointing out the need to adopt a broader perspective. However, no extensive research has been developed on musical glossolalia – and especially on its non-religious forms – from such a point of view. The present paper aims precisely at filling this gap: philosophical discussion of existing literature and the semiotic analysis of particularly relevant case studies of glossolalia in the musical domain help us shed new light on the functioning mechanisms of such a phenomenon, hence suggesting effective tools for understanding how it acquires meaning and produces sense.


Semiotica ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 (225) ◽  
pp. 253-267
Author(s):  
Vern Poythress

AbstractThe complexity and flexibility of tagmemic theory, as a semiotic theory developed by Kenneth L. Pike, can be better understood by examining how it applies to a simple semiotic system like traffic lights. We can then compare the result with how it functions in analyzing a piece of natural language. Tagmemic theory introduces three observer viewpoints – the particle view, the wave view, and the field view. Each view generates a suite of questions to answer. Any one of the views results in a “complete” description of traffic lights, from which the information about the other views can be inferred. And yet each view is distinct in texture from the others, and the existence of such multiple views – each with a claim to emic integrity and each serving as a perspective on the whole – has to be accounted for in a robust semiotic approach. The same phenomena occur when we apply the three views to the analysis of meaning in natural language. The chief illustration is to analyze the meaning of the word dog in multiple ways. The multi-dimensional potential for semiotic analysis highlights the limitations of Aristotelian logic and symbolic logic, both of which simplify for the sake of rigor.


2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (12) ◽  
pp. 1281
Author(s):  
Iraj Noroozi ◽  
Somayeh Tork

The aim of the present article is to investigate the meaning of the signs in Persian translation of Heart of Darkness. To reach the desired goal, the researcher has used social semiotics and Peirce’s triadic sign model as the theoretical framework. In the current study, Peirce semiotics has been used for detecting signs. After detection 50 signs, the researcher used Peirce’s triadic sign model for analyzing the translation of each sign. The researcher decoded the signs to identify their components and analyzed them in social semiotic level to clarify whether they have the same impression on the Persian version of Heart of Darkness as their English source or not. After performing data analysis, it was cleared that 37 signs (out of 50) in the corpus of the study have the same effect and meaning in the target text as what they have in the source text.


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