Linguistics Discussion 2013 and Beyond discussion

This section is on semiotics, which is a relative of linguistics. It is the study of signs, their meaning, and effect on people.

This could prove to be an interesting thread. I just had a brief look at this through the web and realised I've covered a little of this in linguistics studies. Semantics, syntactics and pragmatics hmmm...we mainly focused on semantics and a little on signs and how language is made up of signs.

Jonathan wrote: "This could prove to be an interesting thread. I just had a brief look at this through the web and realised I've covered a little of this in linguistics studies. Semantics, syntactics and pragmatics..."

It can also devolve into a bunch of kitty posters like on Facebook. LOL.

I don't know if anyone is familiar with Umberto Eco, but he is a professor of semiotics in Italy, and aside from his fantastic novels he has also written quite a bit of good linguistic/language stuff.

Yes. In fact, it was reading his work that got me interested in semiotics.

BTW, there's more I need to put under this category.

Haa! Aloha! I apologise for my, er ... reaction at finding you here, but you never told me you had an interest in semiotics!? I had, by the way, just lost a looong post in the 'welcome' thread on Todorov and Barthes. The former of course being a structuralist from the Russian formalist school, who coined the phrase 'narratology'.

I had made a post elsewhere about feeling confused about someone asking me to summarize Barthes's structuralist theories, because when reading later Barthes he doesn't sound structuralist but post-structuralist. My other friend pointed out to me that Barthes bridged the gap between structuralism and post-structuralism .

It was partly Barthes'"Introduction to the Structural Analysis of Narratives", that had me so confused,(it sounds so structuralist, doesn't it?) but I've since found even older work of his, his very earliest work, where he had started off investigating structuralism. He then became disillusioned with it, critting the fact that it didn't do enough to address content and ideology.

The other participant then pointed out the distinction between linguistics and narratology. I was coming more from a narratology area (media studies, etc) but I think in places they overlap. For instance, Derrida addresses some of both. Which reminded me about this group!

Now, I'm wondering where I can chat about narratology. Right here, or do you think it warrants its own thread?

Also, I came here to see what exactly nit is that linguists cover in their field. Because the remark on linguistics vs narratology made me realize that beyond narratologists and lit critics and basically phil. of language guys like Derrida et al, I don't know.

...and now I'm curious to find out...

Let me go check out the other threads...