In the most general sense, paradigm means pattern or way (especially a vivid example, such that is not negotiable); In a more specific sense, a paradigm is a theoretical, methodological, or heuristic framework. The second, more technical significance refers to the...
Semiology Glossary
Paradigm Shift
The historian and philosopher of science, Thomas Kuhn, in his The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962), himself revolutionized the way we should think about science. Kuhn distinguishes periods from normal science, alternating with conceptual revolutions. Kuhn...
Paradigmatic vs. Syntagmatic
To learn more about the opposition paradigmatic vs syntagmatic, please see associative and axis.
Parapraxis
Parapraxis is a technical term for what is usually called a Freudian slip. Freud believed that these mistakes were significant. That is, they almost always betray powerful but unconscious motives.
Parole vs. Langue
French words, meaning speech (discourse), and language, respectively.
Parousia
Parousia comes from the Greek word for "presence", "arrival". In the works of Jacques Derrida, we find a critique of the philosophy (metaphysics) of presence. The history of Western philosophy has, in one way or another, been an attempt to define existence in terms of...
Patrilocation
Patrilocation is a term that tries to indicate a place within a patriarchal system.
Performative Utterance
A statement, such as a vow or a promise, in which the statement itself contains the performance of a socially accepted act. If I say in a serious tone that I promise to meet with you at six o'clock, then the very utterance of those words produces a promise. Related:...
Perlocution, Perlocutionary Force
The effect of a speech on the listener or reader. John L. Austin distinguishes between locution, illocution, and perlocution, or the locutionary, perlocutionary, and illocutionary force of a statement. If someone utters the message "I'm tired", the message-in-context...
Phallocentric, Phallocentrism
Phallocentric - characteristic of everything that privileges the phallus or phallic forms of discourse (for example, the hard in front of the soft, the penetrating in front of the absorbing); Phallocentrism is the tendency to privilege the phallus or phallic forms of...
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Diacritical
A definition, meaning different or distinctive. In order for anything to function as a sign, it needs to be distinguished from other units also used as signs. Because Ferdinand de Saussure pays considerable attention to how signs are derived from their differences,...
Diagram
A type of sign in which the iconic function is the dominant sign function, but also the symbolic and index functions are clearly present. If a coach sketches a diagram of the match on the blackboard, he constructs a sign that in some important aspect resembles his...
Dialectic
In the most general sense - the process that involves oppositions (for example, one might say that history is a dialectic of spontaneity and tension), more narrowly - the process that leads to the synthesis or reconciliation of opposing forces or factors.
Dialogism
Dialogism is a doctrine or orientation based on dialogue. Dialogue is a semiotic process of mutual exchange, often used as a model to explain or shed light on phenomena that are not otherwise used as a reference to this process. For example, experience is seen as a...
Dialogue
A type of discourse characterized by the communication of many participants; a literary genre modeled on conversation (e.g. Plato's dialogues). Martin Buber explored the nature and forms of dialogue, focusing mainly on dialogue as an existential exchange between Me...
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.
