A process in which an object or phenomenon under study is broken down - either physically (as in the chemical analysis of a substance) or conceptually - into its components in order to be more fully understood. The analysis is one of the main procedures used in all...
A
Home » Semiology Glossary » A »
Analytic/Synthetic Judgments
Animal Symbolicum
A Latin expression meaning symbolic or symbol-using animal; an expression used by Ernst Cassirer to denote the human race. Animal Symbolicum also suggests something broader and deeper than what is usually understood by the classical definition of the human being as a...
Anthropomorphism
From the Greek words anthropos and morphe, meaning man and form, respectively. Anthropomorphism refers to the tendency to understand or interpret something that is not human or personal in a human or personal sense. To perceive God the Father as a man with white hair...
Anthroposemiosis
All sign processes in which human beings but also other animals participate; more specifically - the human use and formation of signs. Art, science, religion, and language, at least in their complex manifestations, are examples of anthroposemiosis in a narrower sense....
Anthroposemiotics
A branch of semiotics devoted to the study of man, exclusively and only to the characteristic human uses and forms of signs; part of zoosemiotics dealing with anthroposemiosis.
Anti-humanism
The opposite or the rejection of humanism. In a very broad sense, humanism is the acceptance of the values and dignity of human beings; in a more limited sense, it refers to a cultural and intellectual movement that began in the Renaissance (if not earlier) and...
Antinomy
Generally speaking, the contradiction that manifests itself between two equally valid principles or between two (obviously) correct conclusions based on these principles.
Antipsychologism
The view that psychological or spiritual processes cannot explain the sign process. Proponents of this doctrine argue that signs cannot be explained by their relationship to reason, namely, reason accepted as an internal or private sphere; reason could be explained...
Anti-realism
The complete denial of realism; even more radical, a denial of the problem (a series of problems) that raises the question of whether or not our signs can or do not accurately describe or represent reality.
Connect
Latest posts:
Abridgment
Reducing or shortening a word or phrase, such as shortening of "Metropolitan" to "Metro". Abridgment affects signifiers, not words (ie nonverbal or linguistic signifiers). The slightest nod from a person's repertoire of nonverbal communication gestures can replace the...
Abstraction
The process by which certain features of a phenomenon or reality are chosen for consideration and others are downplayed; the product obtained by such a process is ens rationis, a state of mind; his being is available only in thought. If we focus on human beings only...
Actant
A term proposed by A.J. Greimas and accepted by narratologists to indicate the most essential categories of the development of the plot. From the beginning, Greimas suggested having three such categories, each in binary opposition: Subject/object; Sender/recipient;...
Actantial Analysis
Actantial Analysis is the analysis of the narrative in terms of actants, abstract functions, located at the level of the deep structure. For narratologists such as Roland Barthes and A.J. Greimas narrative discourse has both a superficial and a deep structure. What...
Acteme
A term proposed by Kenneth L. Pike to denote the most basic units of communicative behavior, whether verbal or nonverbal. What is the phoneme for linguistic research as a system of aural signs is the same acteme for the study of communications as a behavioral system....
Free Course in Semiology
A completely and truly free course on Semiology (Semiotics). Learn about the meaning of signs, how and why did the field emerged. What is the relationship between the street signs and the signs that we use every day - words.
