Sign (semiotics)

About: Sign (semiotics) is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 4080 publications have been published within this topic receiving 70333 citations. The topic is also known as: semiotic sign.

The Neo-Primitivist Turn: Critical Reflections on Alterity, Culture, and Modernity

Abstract: In recent years the concept of 'the primitive' has been the subject of strong criticism; it has been examined, unpacked, and shown to signify little more than a construction or projection necessary for establishing the modernity of the West The term 'primitive' continues, however, to appear in contemporary critical and cultural discourse, begging the question: Why does primitivism keep reappearing even after it has been uncovered as a modern myth? In The Neo-primitivist Turn, Victor Li argues that this contentious term was never completely banished and that it has in fact reappeared under new theoretical guises An idealized conception of 'the primitive,' he contends, has come to function as the ultimate sign of alterity Li focuses on the works of theorists like Jean Baudrillard, Jean-Francois Lyotard, Marianna Torgovnick, Marshall Sahlins, and Jurgen Habermas in order to demonstrate that primitivism continues to be a powerful presence even in those works normally regarded as critical of the concept Providing close readings of the ways in which the premodern or primitive is strategically deployed in contemporary critical writings, Li's interdisciplinary study is a timely and forceful intervention into current debates on the politics and ethics of otherness, the problems of cultural relativism, and the vicissitudes of modernity

Fixing the meaning of marriage: political symbolism and citizen identity in the same-sex marriage debate

Abstract: This article explores the ways in which politicians use same-sex marriage as a sign that both conveys a wide range of meanings to the electorate and implicates the construction of particular citizen identities. Politicians' views discussed range from those of Tony Abbott and Julia Gillard to George W. Bush and Barack Obama. By analysing the ways in which heteronormative signs are contested, the article questions whether measures such as same-sex marriage are as unambiguously normalizing as critics like Butler suggest. For, despite some normalizing aspects, same-sex marriage can also challenge the way in which heteronormative citizen identities have been constructed. That is precisely why some conservative (and not so conservative) politicians see it as a threat while others see same-sex marriage as an important sign of progress. Meanwhile, what had been intended as a reassuring sign for the religious right contributed to Australian Labor losing votes on the left.

Model Guidelines for Visibility of On-Premise Advertisement Signs:

Abstract: On-premise advertising signs play an important role in directing drivers Well-placed and well-designed on-premise advertising signs can guide vehicle operators toward their destinations with minimal demand for attention Poor placement of signs can sap a driver's cognitive and perceptual resources, resulting in erratic maneuvers such as inappropriate slowing and lane changing Increasingly, however, the visibility of on-premise advertising signs is being determined not by human factors researchers, visibility experts, or traffic engineers but by local planning and zoning officials, who lack specialized training in relevant fields Regulations affecting on-premise sign visibility characteristics, such as means of illumination, lateral offset, and sign size, have been established mainly on the basis of arguments for improved aesthetic appeal and of vague, often unsubstantiated safety claims There is a clear need to determine, from scientific and ergonomic perspectives, the effects these regulations have on sign visibility and traffic safety An organized synthesis of existing literature on sign visibility based on 60 years of research and consisting of more than 150 journal articles and technical reports is presented The synthesis may be used by sign designers to optimize the visual effectiveness of their signs It also can provide a scientific basis for the development of new on-premise sign regulations or changes to existing regulations A model set of guidelines for designing and locating on-premise advertisement signs for conspicuity and legibility is provided

Q&A: What is human language, when did it evolve and why should we care?

Abstract: Human language is unique among all forms of animal communication. It is unlikely that any other species, including our close genetic cousins the Neanderthals, ever had language, and so-called sign ‘language’ in Great Apes is nothing like human language. Language evolution shares many features with biological evolution, and this has made it useful for tracing recent human history and for studying how culture evolves among groups of people with related languages. A case can be made that language has played a more important role in our species’ recent (circa last 200,000 years) evolution than have our genes.

Watteau's Painted Conversations: Art, Literature, and Talk in Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century France

Abstract: Not just talk - the recurring theme of conversation in Watteau's art the age of conversation - France in the 17th and 18th centuries the conversational mode the artist as aristrocrat "L'Enseigne de Gersaint" and the conversational structure of the artistic sign.