General sociolinguistics, social semiotics and semiotics of culture – ex pluribus unum? Forty years after Language as Social Semiotic

Authors

  • Suren Zolyan (1) Institute for the Humanities, Im. Kant Baltic Federal University, Kaliningrad, Russia; (2) Institute of Philosophy, Sociology, and Law, National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.12697/SSS.2019.47.3-4.03

Keywords:

sociolinguistics, social semiotics, social semiotic, semiotics of culture, meaning production, textuality, Michael Halliday, Juri Lotman, Gunther Kress, Robert Hodge

Abstract

The birth of social semiotics is usually associated with the publication of Michael Halliday’s book Language as Social Semiotic (1978). We try to draw attention to possible new developments in social semiotics, which still remain a potential transdisciplinary project for social sciences. In order to do this, we address the interrelation between sociolinguistics, social semiotics and the semiotics of culture. All of these describe mechanisms of meaning production and translation beyond linguistic structures. The differentiation between these workings is based on a distinc tion between various aspects of meaning production and communication and functional characteristics of goal setting. The complexity of these processes legitimates the complexity of methodology used to describe them. Interconnection between different domains and aspects may create synthetic methods based on the dynamic approach to meaning production and transmission.

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Author Biography

Suren Zolyan, (1) Institute for the Humanities, Im. Kant Baltic Federal University, Kaliningrad, Russia; (2) Institute of Philosophy, Sociology, and Law, National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia

 

 

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Published

2019-12-31

How to Cite

Zolyan, S. (2019). General sociolinguistics, social semiotics and semiotics of culture – ex pluribus unum? Forty years after Language as Social Semiotic. Sign Systems Studies, 47(3/4), 400–419. https://doi.org/10.12697/SSS.2019.47.3-4.03

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Articles