А function of language, related to the aspect of communication known as message; it is also called a poetic function. In each communication process, one addresser transmits a message to one addressee; this process occurs in the context of the code and a form of...
Semiology Glossary
Aesthetics
In a broad sense - a branch of philosophy, whose subject is the beauty of art and nature. According to its current use, this definition of aesthetics is, on the one hand, broad, on the other - I claim narrow. It is too broad, as the object of aesthetics today is...
Agency
Possession of status or ability inherent in an agent (actor) - a person, mechanism, or any other object through which a process begins and probably continues or through which some force is exercised and some change is achieved. We usually think of agents as...
Agreeableness to Reason (Method)
One of the four methods of research or ways of establishing beliefs described by Charles Peirce; also called the a priori method. According to the proponents of this method, we should accept, in the course of our struggle to overcome doubt, that faith that is best...
Algorithm
In mathematics, a procedure for solving a problem that has a finite number of steps and often involves repeating an operation; In a more general sense - a step-by-step procedure to achieve a result or solve a difficulty.
Alienation Effect or A-effect
The common translation of the German expression Verfremdungseffekt or V-Effekt (alienation effect) is a term used by Bertolt Brecht (1898 - 1956) to denote the intentional effect of dispelling the realistic illusion of the dramatic illusion of a dramatic work. The...
Aliquid Stat Pro Aliquo
A Latin expression meaning "something that stands in place of something else". From ancient times to the present day, the function of one thing standing in place of something else has been accepted as an essential characteristic of the sign. A respectful formulation...
Alterity
From Latin 'alter' - another. Alterity, difference, difference; having the status or ability to be different and unassimilable by any representation system. Usually the alterity means what is different from a dominant point of view and has thus been (and probably...
Ambiguity
Openness to many interpretations, some of which might even contradict each other; whenever a word or phrase has multiple meanings and they can be confused.
Ampliative/Explicative
Ampliative is a definition used by Charles S. Peirce to identify those forms of thinking that aim to increase our knowledge (adding something really new to the accumulations of what is already known). Explicative is such reasoning that includes explanation -...
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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.
