Nascent and Mature Semiotic Systems
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/lhs.v3i3.355Keywords:
Semiotic Systems, Gestures, New Media Design, New MediaAbstract
The article presents a theory of nascent and mature semiotic systems. Mature systems have evolved naturally over long periods of time and feature systematic and natural realization relationships between meanings and forms. Nascent systems are constructed by a semiotician from complex communicative phenomena while following the principles of systematic and natural realization relationships adopted from mature systems. A system for gestures that co-occur with speech is discussed as an example of mature systems and a system of new media design is outlined to exemplify nascent systems. The two systems are compared and it is demonstrated that both are based on the same principles. The nascent system of new media design is conceptualized as a connotative semiotic, as opposed to the system of gestures, which is denotative. Criteria are developed as a guide for constructing nascent systems.
References
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van Leeuwen, T. (2005) Typographic meaning. Visual Communication 4(2): 137–143.
van Leeuwen T. (2006) Towards a semiotics of typography. Information Design Journal 14(2): 139–155.
Veen, J. (2001) The Art and Science of Web Design. Indianapolis: New Riders.
Wignell, P., Eggins, S. and Martin. J. R. (1989) The discourse of geography: ordering and explaining the experiential world. Linguistics and Education 1(4): 359–392.
Ambrose, G. and Harris, P. (2007) The Layout Book. Lausanne: AVA Publishing.
Barthes, R. (1997) Image-Music-Text. London: Fontana.
Beaugrande, R. de (1980) Text, Discourse and Process: Towards a Multidisciplinary Science of Texts. Norwood NJ: Ablex.
Bolter, J. D. and Grusin, R. (2000) Remediation: Understanding New Media. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.
Cagan, J. and Vogel, C. M. (2000) Creating Breakthrough Products. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Christie, F. and Martin, J. R. (eds) (2007) Language, Knowledge and Pedagogy: Functional Linguistic and Sociological Perspectives. London and NY: Continuum Press.
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1997) Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention. New York: Harper-Collins.
Eco, U. (1976) A Theory of Semiotics. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
Efron, D. (1972) Gesture, Race and Culture. The Hague: Mouton. First published as Gesture and Environment (1941). Mornington Heights, HY: King’s Crown Press.
Eggins, S., Wignell, P. and Martin, J. R. (1993) The discourse of history: distancing the recoverable past. In M. Ghadessy (ed.) Register Analysis: Theory and Practice 75–109. London: Pinter.
Fellbaum, C. (1998) WordNet: An Electronic Lexical Database. Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press.
Giddens, A. (1996) The Nation State and Violence. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Gomez-Perez, A. and Benjamins, V. R. (eds) (2002) Knowledge Engineering and Knowledge Management: Ontologies and the Semantic Web. Berlin: Springer.
Halliday, M. A. K. (1961) Categories of the theory of grammar. Word 17(3): 241–92.
Halliday, M. A. K. (1971) Linguistic function and literary style. In S. Chatman (ed.) Literary Style: A Symposium 330–368. London: Oxford University Press.
Halliday, M. A. K. (1979) Modes of meaning and modes of expression: types of grammatical structure and their determination by different semantic functions. In D. J. Allerton, E. Carney and D. Holcroft (eds) Function and Context in Linguistic Analysis: Essays Offered to William Haas. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Halliday, M. A. K. (1982) The de-automatization of grammar. In J. Anderson (ed.) Language Form and Linguistic Variation 129–159. Amsterdam: Benjamins.
Halliday, M. A. K. (1994) An Introduction to Functional Grammar. (Second edition.) London: Arnold.
Halliday, M. A. K. and Hasan, R. (1976) Cohesion in English. London: Longman.
Halliday, M. A. K. and Martin, J. R. (1993) Writing Science: Literacy and Discursive Power. London and Washington, DC: The Falmer Press.
Hasan, R. (1987) The grammarian’s dream: lexis as most delicate grammar. In M. A. K. Halliday and R. Fawcett (eds) New Developments in Systemic Linguistics. Vol. 1, Theory and Description. London: Pinter.
Hjemslev, L. (1961) Prolegomena to a Theory of Language. Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press.
Jakobson, R. (1971) Shifters, verbal categories and the Russian verb. In Selected Writings of Roman Jakobson. Vol. 2. The Hague: Mouton.
Kendon, A. (1980) Gesticulation and speech: two aspects of the process of utterance. In M. R. Key (ed.) The Relationship of Verbal and Non-Verbal Communication. The Hague: Mouton.
Kendon, A. (1993) Human gesture. In K. R. Gibson and T. Ingold (eds) Tools, Language and Cognition in Human Evolution. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Kress, G. and Van Leewuen, T. (2007) Reading Images: The Grammar of Visual Design. (Third edition.) London: Routledge.
Martin, J. R. (1989) Factual Writing. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.
Martin, J. R. (1992) English Text. Amsterdam: Benjamins.
Martin, J. R. and Rose, D. (2008) Genre Relations. London: Equinox.
Martinec, R. (1998) Cohesion in action. Semiotica 120(1/2): 161–180.
Martinec, R. (2000) Types of process in action. Semiotica 130(3/4): 243–268.
Martinec, R. (2001) Interpersonal resources in action. Semiotica 135(1/4): 117–145.
Martinec, R. (2004) Gestures which co-occur with speech as a systematic resource: the realization of experiential meanings in indexes. Social Semiotics 14(2): 193–213.
Martinec, R. and van Leeuwen, T. (2008) The Language of New Media Design. London and New York: Routledge.
Martinec, R. and Salway, A. (2005) A system for image-text relations in new (and old) media. Visual Communication 4(3): 337–371.
McNeill, D. (1992) Hand and Mind: What Gestures Reveal about Thought. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press.
McNeill D. (1997) Hand and mind. In T. Sebeok and J. Umiker-Sebeok (eds) The Semiotic Web. Berlin: de Gruyter.
Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary (2009) http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ nascent.
Morville, P. and Rosenfeld, L. (2006) Information Architecture for the World Wide Web. (Third edition.) Sebastopol, CA: O’Reilly Media.
Mukarovsky, J. (1977) On poetic language. In J. Mukarovsky (ed.) The Word and Verbal Art 1–64. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Nielsen, J. (2000) Designing Web Usability: The Practice of Simplicity. Indianapolis: New Riders Publishing.
O’Donnell, M. (2000) Intermixing multiple discourse strategies for automatic text composition. Revista Canaria de Estudios Ingleses 40: 115–133.
Peirce, C. S. (1867–1914 [1998]) Collected Papers of Charles Sanders Peirce. Edited by C. Hartshorne and P. Weiss. Bristol: Thoemmes.
Rotovision (2007) Grids: Creative Solutions for Graphic Designers. Hove, UK: Rotovision SA.
Sowa, J. F. (1983) Conceptual Structures: Information Processing in Mind and Machine. Lebanon, IN: Addison Wesley.
Spence, R. (2001) Information Visualization. Boston: Addison-Wesley.
Tufte, E. R. (1990) Envisioning Information. Cheshire, CT: Graphics Press.
van Leeuwen, T. (2005) Typographic meaning. Visual Communication 4(2): 137–143.
van Leeuwen T. (2006) Towards a semiotics of typography. Information Design Journal 14(2): 139–155.
Veen, J. (2001) The Art and Science of Web Design. Indianapolis: New Riders.
Wignell, P., Eggins, S. and Martin. J. R. (1989) The discourse of geography: ordering and explaining the experiential world. Linguistics and Education 1(4): 359–392.
Published
2010-06-14
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
Martinec, R. (2010). Nascent and Mature Semiotic Systems. Linguistics and the Human Sciences, 3(3), 355-392. https://doi.org/10.1558/lhs.v3i3.355
