Signs: An Introduction to Semiotics

by Thomas Albert Sebeok

The interpretive science of semiotics offers powerful analytical tools for the application of many disciplines to the study of perception. Semiotics is the study of signs, and as such, is of relevance to a wide spectrum of scholars and professionals, including social scientists, psychologists, artists, graphic designers, and students of literature. Semiosis - the production and interpretation of linguistic and visual signs - is innate to human beings of all societies. From the simplest of hand gestures to the most complex diagrams and charts, the sign is key to the communication of ideas. Thomas A. Sebeok examines, in an engaging, readable style, how the sign mediates between bodily experience and abstract thought. This updated second edition of Signs combines some of Sebeok's most important essays with a new general introduction, introductory passages at the outset of each chapter, a glossary, and brief biographies of the major semioticians. From an overview of the discipline to a more detailed exploration of sign categories, the author powerfully demonstrates the co-dependency of verbal and non-verbal communication. Aimed primarily at undergraduate and graduate students, this engaging book also has plenty to offer any general reader who is interested in exploring and analyzing the complex sign systems we so often take for granted.

Genres: Semiotics, Nonfiction, Philosophy, Language, Linguistics

216 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1994

About the author

Thomas Albert Sebeok or Sebők was a prominent linguist and semiotician, and editor-in-chief of the leading periodical in the field, Semiotica, from its 1969 founding until 2001. He earned his Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1945. He is counted among the originators of the field of biosemiotics, and was highly influential in the study of non-human signaling and communication systems.

Sebeok was survived by his wife (and frequent co-author), Jean Umiker-Sebeok

Reviews

[Valeriu Gherghel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unul dintre cei mai importanți semioticieni din secolul trecut.

Cartea cuprinde o clasificare a semnelor, inspirată de triada lui Charles Sanders Peirce (simbol, icon, index). Trihotomia semnelor propusă de filosoful american a jucat un rol decisiv în filosofia limbajului. Cu toate acestea, clasificarea semnelor propusă de Peirce rămîne evident incompletă.

Thomas A. Sebeok (1920 - 2001) crede că o clasificare mai potrivită ar fi una hexadică. Ea ar cuprinde următoarele tipuri de semne (exemplele îmi aparțin):

(a) semnalul (pocnetul pistolului într-o cursă atletică, sunetul clopotului din turla unei biserici care îi cheamă pe creștini la slujbă, soneria / clopoțelul într-o școală, claxonul...),
(b) simptomul (hrana medicilor: tensiunea arterială, paloarea, temperatura etc.),
(c) iconul (portretul Giocondei, harta geografică a Europei, globul pămîntesc la ora de Geografie, astrolabul),
(d) indexul, indicele (urma lui Vineri pe nisip, amprenta care îl dă de gol pe odiosul criminal etc.),
(e) simbolul (crucea, termenul „cruce”, semiluna etc.),
(f) numele proprii (Veronica, Mihai, Adonis, Cleopatra, Caesar).

[Alejandro Brand · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Semiotics is not about the real world at all, but about complementary or alternative actual models of it - and as Leibniz thought - about an infinite number of anthropologically conceivable worlds" T. Sebeok

This comment has not a high degree of expertise or pretends to be an academic opinion or review. On the contrary, it is the impression of someone who has just started to read about semiotics without any preview knowledge about it.

The book consists of 8 chapters. It covers the basic concepts(signs and its main types and semiotic models), the history and beginning of semiotics, the two main approaches stablished by Ferdinand de Saussure and Charles Sanders Pierce. And a full chapter dedicated to the fetish as a sign. Most of the topics are carefully treated and detailed.

In a loose appreciation, I think this is a valuable detailed introductory book. It is well structured with a logical order, contains lots of examples that help to grasp better the concepts and ideas. It also has hundreds of references and quotes from authors of different sciences(philosophy, biology, physics, etc).

[Oscar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Concise and interesting introduction to a field I don't know much about.

[Matthew Ochal · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish I liked this book more, parts were super interesting but there were also parts that I found rather tedious due to the writing. Not too shabby for in intro to semiotics but definitely not something I would read for fun

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Essential reading for studying semiotics. Sebeok comments on the various avenues of semiotic study of his contemporaries and breaks down the different approaches of Charles S. Peirce and Ferdinand de Saussure.

[Mark Holm · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent primer on semiotics, though not as robust as Eco would do in A Theory of Semiotics or Semiotics and the philosophy of language. Perhaps that's for the better if you're you need a text or introduction to the field.

[David Withun · Rating 4 out of 5]

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