Archives

  • This is the cover of Zeitschrift für Semiotik 43, 1-2 from the year 2021. The titel of the issue is "Mental Spaces".

    Mental Spaces
    Vol. 43 No. 1-2 (2021)

    This special issue sheds light on the process of meaning constitution in face-to-face interaction, combining approaches based on cognitive frames with mental space theory. Deliberately avoiding the juxtaposition of interactional and cognitive approaches, the contributions of this issue establish a link between data-based multimodal interaction research on the one hand and cognitive-semantic descriptive approaches and categories on the other, with some contributions incorporating frame-semantic perspectives.

  • This is the cover of Zeitschrift für Semiotik 42, 3-4 from the year 2020. The titel of the issue is "Soziale Medien".

    Soziale Medien
    Vol. 42 No. 3-4 (2020)

    This issue combines an interdisciplinary range of approaches to the defining media phenomenon of our time, focusing on semiotic approaches in social media studies. Social media are identified as a place of online manipulation, dark posts and deplatforming processes on Facebook are investigated, and the spread of extremist movements on Telegram is highlighted. Models of attention economics are applicable to the success of social media, if we consider their problematic reconfiguration of our social and communicative priorities. Avoiding a one-sided perspective, the issue also highlights positive aspects of social media, such as the possibility for social movements, the distribution of critical perspectives, and the potential for connecting marginalised communities.

  • This is the cover of Zeitschrift für Semiotik 42, 1-2 from the year 2020. The titel of the issue is "Schlagersemiotik".

    Schlagersemiotik. Beiträge der Passauer Mediensemiotik
    Vol. 42 No. 1-2 (2020)

    The issue is dedicated to Schlager as a subgenre of (primarily German) folk music from various disciplinary and theoretical perspectives, starting from the assumption that Schlager cannot be explained without reference to filmic sign systems as well as social, cultural and national meaning-making processes. The semiotic perspective enables an in-depth analysis of the embedding and functions of Schlager in German-speaking culture, especially in film and entertainment, with a particular focus on the first post-war decades. The contributions shed light on, among other topics, the role of Schlager in aligning individual desires with collective needs in the GDR (former East Germany), the depiction of an idealised world in West German post-war Schlager films, the flexible adaptation of Schlager to cultural change and the surprising functions of Schlager in auteur films of the 1960s.

  • This is the cover of Zeitschrift für Semiotik 41, 3-4 from the year 2019. The titel of the issue is "Semiotik der Diaspora".

    Semiotik der Diaspora
    Vol. 41 No. 3-4 (2019)

    Dedicated to the semiotics of diaspora, this issue examines the complex relationships between literary, discursive and rhetorical sign production in contexts of diaspora, exile, and migration. The various contributions explore the impact of different experiences of migration and landing on the narratives and constructed identities of diasporic communities. Using various textual genres and historical contexts, the articles shed light on semiotic principles of cultural identity construction and hybridity within the diaspora and in relation to it. It becomes clear that the influence of diasporic meaning construction goes far beyond diaspora communities, influencing society as a whole and shaping our contemporary globalised world.

  • This is the cover of Zeitschrift für Semiotik 41, 1-2 from the year 2019. The titel of the issue is "Semiotische Medientheorien".

    Semiotische Medientheorien
    Vol. 41 No. 1-2 (2019)

    The issue presents semiotic approaches in media studies, investigating the relationship between sign systems, media, and communication situations. The contributions reflect on the theoretical and methodological foundations of semiotic media theories, and apply them in a range of empirical studies. Particular attention is given to the analysis of multimodal phenomena and to the significance of praxeological approaches. By integrating diverse disciplines and methodological approaches, the contributions in this issue connect various theoretical and empirical strands of semiotic media theory, fostering a fruitful interdisciplinary dialogue.

  • This is the cover of Zeitschrift für Semiotik 40, 3-4 from the year 2018. The titel of the issue is "Themenoffenes Heft".

    Themenoffenes Heft
    Vol. 40 No. 3-4 (2018)

    This issue explores a diverse range of topics within the fields of semiotics, communication, and media studies. It includes an analysis of diagrammatic thinking in mathematics and music, factors influencing efficient professional communication, and the semiotics of machine learning in language assistant systems. Further, it examines the influence of physicality on the development of the alphabet, the portrayal of researchers in TV documentaries, and the role of laughter in TV advertising. Further contributions discuss hypostatization in anthropocentric sign systems and investigate the impact of digital media on social interactions. Each article provides unique insights into how meaning is constructed and communicated across different media and contexts.

  • This is the cover of Zeitschrift für Semiotik 40, 1-2 from the year 2018. The titel of the issue is "Überwachung 2.0 – Zwischen Kontrolle und Komfort".

    Überwachung 2.0 – Zwischen Kontrolle und Komfort
    Vol. 40 No. 1-2 (2018)

    Surveillance and control are fundamental social practices that sustain social stability, both in autocratic and in democratic societies. The issue explores the various dimensions of surveillance, privacy risks, and control connected with contemporary digital technologies. Historical and theoretical perspectives are examined, with a focus on Foucault's Panopticon model and new forms of digital surveillance, such as algorithmic methods steering consumer behavior and social media networks. New forms of (self-)surveillance through apps and social media, changes in societal attitudes concerning privacy, and the depiction of surveillance in films and TV series are further topics.

  • This is the cover of Zeitschrift für Semiotik 39, 3-4 from the year 2017. The titel of the issue is "Digitaler Dschihad. Vom Attentäter zum Medienagenten".

    Digitaler Dschihad. Vom Attentäter zum Medienagenten
    Vol. 39 No. 3-4 (2017)

    The issue deals with the propaganda and media strategies used by Islamic terrorist organisations. Contributions investigate the audiovisual propaganda formats of the so-called Islamic State (IS), the use of media techniques of various degrees of professionality, the rhetorical mechanisms of multimodal propaganda communication, and how to explain scientific results about islamic terrorism to the general public.

  • This is the cover of Zeitschrift für Semiotik 39, 1-2 from the year 2017. The titel of the issue is "Semiotik als Theorie der Digitalen Geisteswissenschaften"

    Semiotik als Theorie der Digitalen Geisteswissenschaften
    Vol. 39 No. 1-2 (2017)

    The digital humanities are a dynamic field of research at the interface between research questions in the humanities and applied computer science. Can semiotics contribute to a better theoretical underpinning of this highly innovative research? The articles in this issue examine the promise of semiotic theories and terminologies for the reflection and development of the digital humanities, where new and innovative approaches towards complex multimodal texts and communication have recently been developed.

  • Themenoffenes Heft
    Vol. 38 No. 3-4 (2016)

    This open-topic issue brings together contributions from theoretical and empirical gesture research, which are examined in their relation to semiotic and anthropological theories, truth-functional semantics in the tradition of Alfred Tarski, research on technical language terminologies and the study of historical drama using approaches from cognitive linguistics.

  • Zeichen im öffentlichen Raum: Funktionalisierung, Ästhetisierung und Mediatisierung
    Vol. 38 No. 1-2 (2016)

    This issue deals with semiotic aspects of metropolitan studies. Urban signs range from traffic signs and street names to monuments, street art and advertising to semiotic aspects of architecture and urban design. The issue's contributions deal with the memory culture of monuments and street names, the changing aesthetic perception of neon signs, political protest communication, phonetic transcriptions in graffiti and advertising, and QR codes as a link between urban and digital or virtual spaces.

  • Biosemiotic Ethics
    Vol. 37 No. 3-4 (2015)

    This issue presents the rapidly growing field of biosemiotic ethics. In the past two decades, biosemioticians have began to tease out the ethical implications of semiosis as a capacity of living beings. The foundational argument is that if semiosis is a morally-relevant capacity, and if all living systems are semiotic, then biosemiosis can serve as the basis for justifying the attribution of moral status to humans, to animals and plants, and even to ecosystems. Biosemiotic ethics opens the road towards a perspective that connects ecological thinking with ethical perspectives.

  • Lachen als Zeichenprozess
    Vol. 37 No. 1-2 (2015)

    The thematic issue “Laughter as a sign process” examines laughter from different disciplinary perspectives, in view of its semiotic dimensions as a means of communication. It provides an overview of laughter research, combining approaches from psychology, linguistics, philosophy, comics research and other fields. The contributions investigate laughter as a symbolic and communicative phenomenon in its psychological, historical, literary, and cultural dimensions.

  • Kommunikation, Inferentialismus und Semiotik. Robert B. Brandoms „Expressive Vernunft“
    Vol. 36 No. 3-4 (2014)

    This special issue investigates the philosophical and linguistic pragmatism developed by Robert B. Brandom in his book Making It Explicit. From various perspectives, the contributions of the book investigate the connections between various aspects of Brandom’s pragmatism and semiotic theories and approaches.