Description
Book SynopsisThe study of semiotics underwent a gradual but radical paradigm shift during the 20th century, from a glottocentric enterprise to one that encompasses the whole terrestrial biosphere. In this collection of 17 essays, Tom Sebeok, a thinker in the field, shows how this progression took place.
Trade ReviewLinguist, anthropologist, semiotician, and author/editor of hundreds of articles and books on a wide range of topics, Sebeok (emer., Indian Univ.) here offers 17 chapters dealing with the worldwide emergence and development of modern semiotics. The chapter topics range from global semiotics and the evolution of semiotics to nonverbal communication and women in semiotics; the author ends with three short chapters that strike out in new directions: Estonian Connection, My 'Short Happy Life' in Finno—Ugric Studies, and Uralic Studies and English for Hungarians at Indiana University, A Personal View. This comprehensive and scholarly work is complete with 14 pages of detailed notes and a thorough 30-page reference section. The study will be of use and value to those beginning a serious study of semiotics at the graduate level and to seasoned scholars.March 2002
-- W. B. Warde, Jr. * University of North Texas *
Table of ContentsPreliminary Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Global Semiotics
2. The Evolution of Semiosis
3. Biosemiotics: Its Roots, Proliferation, and Prospects
4. Galen in Medical Semiotics
5. Signs, Bridges, Origins
6. What Do We Know about the Signifying Behavior in the Domestic Cat (Felis catus)?
7. "Give Me Another Horse"
8. Nonverbal Communication
9. Intersemiotics Transmutations: A Genre of Hybrid Jokes
10. "Tell Me, Where is Fancy Bred?": The Biosemiotic Self
11. The Cognitive Self and the Virtual Self
12. Some Reflections on Vico in Semiotics
13. Women in Semiotics
14. The Music of the Spheres
15. The Estonian Connection
16. My "Short Happy Life" in Finno-Ugric Studies
17. The Uralic Studies and English for Hungarians at Indiana University: A Personal View
Notes
References
Index of Names
