Specific features of intersemiotic translation of symbols from the perspective of conceptual and semiotic paradigm

The text of the novel “Inferno” written by Dan Brown and its film adaptation, provide the material for the analysis of symbols and their importance in both art forms. This analysis, which rests on the thesis of the conceptual nature of symbols in any literary text, is made in conceptual and semantic fields, and the concepts denoted by the analyzed symbols are pointed out. Given that the text of the source novel is abundant in symbols of various degrees of textual importance, not all of them were subject of research in this paper. The basic symbol of the source text, the Inferno, was singled out, as well as a number of symbols embodied by novel and film personages. In the research, frequent techniques of intersemiotic translations were analyzed as concerns their role in symbol rendering: omission, typical of the studied case of intersemiotic translation, which can be combined with the technique of addition. In the latter case, the degree of expressive force of the symbol can be considerably altered. The greatest shift in the degree of importance of a symbol is named ‘symbol transformation’, it is observed when symbols (in the given case, symbolic personages of the source text) lose their expressive force and the features of a symbol, i.e., in the process of intersemiotic translation these symbols are lost. The suggested model of analysis can be applied in other cases of intersemiotic translation, and other techniques, together with their combinations, can be found.

Analysis of Low Probability of Detection Capability for Chaotic Standard Map-Based FH-OFDMA System

A frequency hopping orthogonal frequency division multiple access (FH-OFDMA) can provide low probability of detection (LPD) and anti-jamming capabilities to users against adversary detectors. To obtain an extreme LPD capability that cannot be provided by the basic symbol-by-symbol (SBS)-based FH pattern, we proposed two FH patterns, namely chaotic standard map (CSM) and cat map for FH-OFDMA systems. In our previous work, through analysis of complexity to regenerate the transmitted symbol sequence, at the point of adversary detectors, we found that the CSM had a lower probability of intercept than the cat map and SBS. It is possible when a detector already knows symbol and frame structures, and the detector has been synchronized to the FH-OFDMA system. Unlike the previous work, here, we analyze whether the CSM provides greater LPD capability than the cat map and SBS by detection probability using spectrum sensing technique. We analyze the detection probability of the CSM and provide detection probabilities of the cat map and SBS compared to the CSM. Based on our analysis of the detection probability and numerical results, it is evident that the CSM provides greater LPD capability than both the cat map and SBS-based FH-OFDMA systems.

The Deep Meaning of Symbolism Significance in Men in the Sun

The novel of MEN IN THE SUN by Ghassan Kanafani reflects the Palestinian cause, the 1948 catastrophe and its impact on the Palestinian people through Palestinian men of different generations who tell their story in a wonderful symbolic way. The novelist reflected the issue through the characters, as each character in the novel symbolizes a certain personality of his people. The story is the story of three men who decide to emigrate from Palestine to Kuwait illegally for their desire to improve their living conditions. The novel ends with the death of the three men suffocating for fear of beating the walls of the tank. This study is an attempt to examine the symbolism in Men in the Sun and its significance and the deep meaning behind the literal meaning of these symbols. The study tries to examine the basic symbol of the story "the walls of the tank are not pounded", as these three men die suffocating in the tank, without any of them daring to knock the walls of the tank for help. The symbolism of the non-knocking of the walls indicates the legitimate cry of the Palestinian people conflict, who have suffered from displacement. Other symbols in the novel are also analyzed to show how the writer used them for artistic and political purposes.

Empty Pages and Full Stops: On the Aesthetic Relation between Books and Art

Books and artworks have a long common history. Written texts, as well as the joy of reading and the act of writing them, appeared in pieces of art from early Antiquity onwards, well before the current form of the book itself was invented. Apart from indicating readers and writers, the book had also become a basic symbol of culture, education, or the attribute of saints. On the other hand, there are many artists who create special books, i.e. special one-copy and one-edition volumes, not only containing the artist’s drawings or paintings but the whole assemblage of the book (and often even the paper itself) is the creator’s own work. From the Early Modern Age and especially from Romanticism onwards, the sketchbook of the artist grew rapidly in its importance. In this paper, however, I would like to survey another aspect: when the book, and especially its material property or physicality, serves as the basis of the creation of a novel artwork. In other words, I focus on pieces of art where the book is not simply a depicted motif or an attribute and it is not even a newly-created book-art object. Hence my current examination aims to analyze the phenomenon of the book, as how its materiality and referential ability may inspire the artist to further develop considerations on cultural, social and political issues. Works by Sophia Pompéry, Ákos Czigány, the art collective Slavs and Tatars, Jorge Méndez Blake and Carla Filipe are analyzed.Article received: April 15, 2019; Article accepted: June 23, 2019; Published online: September 15, 2019; Review ArticleHow to cite this article: Somhegyi, Zoltán. "Empty Pages and Full Stops: On the Aesthetic Relation between Books and Art." AM Journal of Art and Media Studies 19 (2019): 69-75. doi: 10.25038/am.v0i19.306

What did we learn from the ape language studies?

The ‘ape language’ studies have come and gone, with wildly divergent claims about what they have shown. Without question, the most sophisticated skills have been displayed by Kanzi, a male bonobo exposed from youth to a human-like communicative system. This chapter attempts to assess, in an objective a manner as possible, the nature of the communicative skills that Kanzi and other great apes acquired during the various ape language projects. The overall conclusion is that bonobos and other apes possess most of the requisite cognitive skills for something like a human language, including such things as basic symbol learning, categorization, sequential (statistical) learning, etc. What they lack are the skills and motivations of shared intentionality—such things as joint attention, perspective-taking and cooperative motives—for adjusting their communicative acts for others pragmatically, or for learning symbols whose main function is pragmatic. Il y a eu beaucoup d’études sur la langue des singes avec des résultats très divergents. Sans question, on a vu les compétences les plus avancées chez Kanzi, un bonobo mâle qui a été exposé dès la jeunesse à un système de communication humain. Ici j’essaye d’évaluer le plus objectivement possible l’origine des compétences de communication que Kanzi et d’autres Grands singes ont appris pendant les différents projets linguistiques. Je conclue que les bonobos et les autres grands singes possèdent la plupart des compétences cognitives nécessaires à un langage humain, inclut les bases d’apprentissage de symboles, catégorisation, apprentissage séquentiel statistique, etc. Ils manquent les compétences et motivations d’intentionnalité commune—comme attention commune, prendre une perspective différente, motifs coopératifs—pour qu’ils améliorent leurs actes communicatives pragmatiquement.

Evidence for that the origins of Shang Dynasty’s Oracle-bone Inscriptions could Ascend to Proto-Cuneiform

It is deference to other ancient scripts that oracle-bone inscriptions suddenly appeared in prehistorical China without any predecessors. How oralce-bone inscriptions had been created? and who created it? Those questions have been debated more than one hundred years. Proto-cuneiform is the earliest form of the cuneiform script, the earliest writing system attested in history. It emerged towards the end of the fourth millennium B.C. in ancient a region of Mesopotamia of West Asia. By comparing Sumerian proto-cuineform vs oracle-bone inscription, there are some common basic symbols could be found in both inscriptions. Those symbols had same or derivative meaning in both side. There are a lot of such symbols have been found in both side, they existed in both side simultaneously. It are sufficient and logically. Those evidences indicate that oracle-bone inscription could ascend to proto-cuineform and oracle-bone inscription did not origin in China . At same time the common basic symbol of both inscription could be used to re-explanation of the oracle-bone and help to understand the its real means.

The Spiral as the Basic Semiotic of the Kongo Religion, the Bukongo

In this article, the author demonstrates the spiral as being the basic symbol of the system of signs used in the Kongo religion, the Bukongo, to convey spiritual teachings as well as to help the initiates recall what they have been taught. This symbol is shown to be the summary of the teachings of the Bukongo; it explains the celestial origin and destiny of man, the divine completeness of being (the Verb) and universal salvation. The spiral simplified at the most results in the Kongo cosmogram; thus, this article shows that beyond its current cosmological interpretation, the Kongo cross is the synthesis of an African theology. The author also exposes the existence of the spiral in other African cultures in connection with the origin of mankind.