Theoretical Semiotics and Semiotic Theories (original) (raw)

Short course of semiotics

SHORT COURSE of GENERAL SEMIOTICS, 2022

My first book on semiotics was published in Moscow in 1992; it was called "Language as a Sign System". After that, I wrote and published many books and articles, trying to understand the intricacies of semiotics and highlight its main characteristics. Over time, some of my views have undergone metamorphoses, and I have adjusted my earlier statements to express new formulations. Now, on the threshold of my 95th birthday, I want to sum up my vacillations and doubts in a short concluding essay, which seems to me worthy of attention. Whether this is really so, is for the readers to judge. I want to say a few words about what general semiotics means. De facto, semiotics originated in ancient Greece and Rome − no science or craft can exist without its own signs. But only at the end of the 19th century did a movement arise for the creation of semiotics that would formulate general principles for all branches of this science. In contrast to particular semiotics, such science can be called general semiotics.

Commentary: The status of theoretical divisions in current semiotics

Linguistic Frontiers, 2021

We initiate a new section of the journal, an invited commentary on issues pertaining to the fields of semiotics and linguistics and personal views on what is happening in the field. In this introduction, we assess the current status of the divisions of semiotics into multiple branches and the historical overview of the semiotics/semiology debate.

"The New Science of Semiotics" (in process)

Explicates the Semiotic Paradigm and devotes a chapter to each subparadigm, such as Philosophy of Semiotics; Experimental Semiotics; Search for Invariant Patterns; Theoretical Semiotics; Applied Semiotics; Mathematical Semiotics; and New Ways of Thinking - New Worldviews.

Epistemological discussion on the current status of semiotics in its institutionalization process

DEGRES-REVUE DE SYNTHESE A ORIENTATION SEMIOLOGIQUE, 2024

It is fascinating to observe the evolution of semiotics, which was once considered a passing trend but has now matured into a multifaceted discipline with significant interactions across various fields. The fact that semiotics, focusing on interpreting all types of signs and elucidating their production processes and underlying motivations, has reached this stage is not surprising. Semiotics, which initially interacted with literary studies to develop itself, test its limits, and put forward a systematic and reliable analytical reasoning model, today interacts with various fields of science. Due to this characteristic, semiotics is an interdisciplinary, transdisciplinary, and even a meta-disciplinary domain or an intermediary sphere. However, despite the passage of decades, it is evident that there is still no clear definition of what semiotics is. Therefore, there will be no clear idea about what semiotics is not when it is not known what it is. This quite confusing dialectic has been in existence for a long time. Whether this situation regarding the definition of semiotics is a unique qualitative feature of semiotics or a blurring of ideas caused by different types of views is debatable. This situation of semiotics has the potential to be the subject of discussion in many more studies in different contexts. In the first part of this study, a discussion on the identity of semiotics will be made. The discussion will elucidate whether semiotics is amid an identity crisis and its reasons. In the second part, the interaction of semiotics with other knowledge domains, the role of this interaction in determining its boundaries will be discussed in the context of some descriptive features used for it, and an evaluation will be made on the general situation that emerged in the conclusion.

Leading Currents in Modern Semiotics

In my opinion, modern semiotics cannot be considered as a full-fledged branch of science. There are only some currents in it, which compete for becoming the centerpiece of future semiotics and which, as they hope, will unite most of the scientists dealing with semiotic issues. I describe four such currents, the most prominent in today's practical research, and evaluate their chances of success.