Maria Katsaridou

1) Semiotics and Narrative

Aim:

“What is the meaning of this text”? One important semiotic practice that provides us with the pertinent tools in order to extract the meaning of any text is narrative analysis. By the term “text” we refer not only to written text but to all kinds of texts, namely all kinds of systems of meaning: comics, films, cooking recipes, images, video games etc.

In this course we will focus specifically on the Paris Semiotic School and the narrative theory & methodology of Algirdas Julien Greimas, the founder of this school. Greimas’ theory is based on Vladimir Propp’s study Morphology of the Folktale and develops a method of narrative analysis which he considered to be at the core of the analysis of every text.

During the lessons, students will become familiar with the Paris Semiotic School’s theoretical principles. They will learn Greimas’ narrative analysis and how to apply it in various types of texts of their choice (literature, film, video games etc.) from their surface elements to their deep structure and meaning.

Course requirements: The course is lecture-based but students’ active participation and discussion is a prerequisite. During the course, students are required to analyze a text of their choice and write an essay in which they present the outcome of their analysis (7-10 pages). The final exam consists of an oral presentation (10 mins) and their essay. Grades will be calculated on the base of participation in class, as well as on students’ written work and oral presentation.

Learning outcomes:

1. students know: the theoretical and methodological principles of Paris Semiotic School and its founder Algirdas Julien Greimas. They are familiar with narrative analysis and the ways to analyze various texts in order to understand how they construct their meaning.
2. students can: analyze and understand (almost) all types of texts and narratives. They will acquire some knowledge of the ways texts are constructed and how meaning is produced, and they will apply their acquired knowledge in their individual research by analyzing various texts of their choice. The course provides the students with a solid methodology, with which they can approach, analyze and understand the meaning of any text of their interest, from historical texts to video games.

Course plan:

  CLASS

1	Why narratology? Narrative and Semiotics. Course overview	lecture	2
2	The French School of Semiotics: brief history, basic theoretical principles and representatives	lecture	2
3	From Vladimir Propp’s characters and functions and Claude Lévi-Strauss’ analysis of the structure of the myth, to Algirdas Julien Greimas’ Structural Semantics and narrative theory	lecture	2
4	Generative trajectory: The Semiotic Square (syntax, fundamental semantics) Students have to choose and start working on the text of their choice. Feedback will be provided along with the lessons as needed.	lecture	2
5	Narrative syntax	lecture	2
6	The Actantial Model and the Narrative program	lecture	2
7	Important aspects of narrativity: The system of modalities or “the third semiotic revolution”	lecture	2
8	The Semiotics of Passion: shifting the focus from narrating the actions to subjective states of feelings.	lecture	2
9	Narrative semantics	lecture	2
10	Thematization and Figurativisation	lecture	2
11	From surface to deep structure: paradigmatic analysis. The theory of isotopies: what are they? How we locate them?	lecture	2
12	The hierarchy and relations among isotopies. The use of isotopies on analyzing the ideology of a narrative.	lecture	2
13	Analysis of two case studies: one from literature and one visual, with students’ active participation. Discussion on the theory and methodology.	workshop	2
14	Student’s oral presentations, class discussion and feedback. Deadline for final papers.	lecture	2
15	Feedback and review of corrected papers. Students’ feedback on course.   General discussion.	Discussion	2

 

Bibliography

(Pertinent articles and online bibliographical resources will be available on Moodle for each lesson)

 

Barthes, Roland. ({1964] 1986) Elements of Semiology. New York: Hill and Wang.

 

Bocklund-Lagopoulou, Karin. (1984). The Life of Saint Alexius: Structure and function of a medieval popular narrative. Semiotica 49 (3/4): 243-281.

 

Bocklund-Lagopoulou, Karin. The senses in language: the function of description. Online http://independent.academia.edu/KarinBoklund

 

Greimas, Algirdas J. ([1966] 1984). Structural Semantics: An Attempt at a Method. Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press.

 

Greimas, Algirdas J. ([1970] 1987). On meaning (Theory and History of Literature 38). Minneapolis: University of Minessota Press.

 

Greimas, A. J., and J. Fontanille.  (1993). The Semiotics of Passions. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

 

Kress, Graham, Theo van Leeuwen. (2006). Reading images – The grammar of visual design. London: Routledge.

 

Levi-Strauss, Claude. ([1955] 1963). The Structural Study of Myths. In Structural Anthropology. New York: Basic Books, Inc., Publishers: 206-231.

Propp, Vladimir. ([1928] 1968). Morphology of the Folk Tale. Austin: University of Texas Press.

 

Saussure, Ferdinand de. ([1916] 1983). Course in General Linguistics. Illinois: Open Court Publishing Company.

 

2) Social Semiotics and Methods of Communication

 

 

Aim:

In this course we will explore ways of communicating, as communication is an important part of semiotics.

Students will get acquainted with the basic concepts of communication and learn the different models, namely the different ways and means of communication. They will also become familiar with the various forms of communication, such as direct (e.g. speech), mediated (e.g. through computer) or human-computer communication (e.g. artificial intelligence).

As we know, any "message", anything that has meaning (text messages, films, photos, social networks posts and tweets) has not been produced in a vacuum, but has been produced by someone under specific social, cultural and historical conditions. Thus, students will become familiar with Social Semiotics, or the way in which the various messages are linked to and depend on their social environment.

Students will be asked to explore different ways of communicating and to engage in communication activities which will be discussed in class, so that their acquired theoretical knowledge is grounded in practice.

Course requirements: The course is lecture-based but students’ active participation and discussion is a prerequisite. During the course, students are required to actively participate in communication activities and write a paper (7-10 pages) related to a topic on social semiotics and communication of their choice. The final exam consists of an oral presentation (10 mins) and their paper. Grades will be calculated on the base of participation in class, as well as on students’ written work and oral presentation.

Learning outcomes:

1. students know: the principal theories and concepts of social semiotics and of communication. They are familiar with different models of communication, the difference between channels and medium(s) and the existing articulation between semiotics and social practices.
2. students can: analyze and understand simple and complex systems of communication, in relation to their social and cultural environment. They will acquire some knowledge about the ways messages are interconnected and they will apply their acquired knowledge in their individual research in the means of communication. The course promotes critical thinking and debate on the ways we communicate, receive and perceive any type of knowledge and information.

  Course plan:

  CLASS

1	Course overview: Why social semiotics? How are they connected with communication? What do we define as: “communication” practice? How do we communicate?	lecture	2
2	The three levels of semiotics: immanent semiotics, socio-semiotics and social semiotics, definitions, theoretical issues	lecture	2
3	Connecting the semiotic system with the social reality: the three planes of exo-semiotic	lecture	2
4	Presentation of a case study analysis of the three levels of semiotics. Discussion on social semiotics’ theory and practices.	lecture/discussion
5	The communication circuit and the 14 models of communication according to Alexandros Ph. Lagopoulos, an overview	lecture	2
6	Analysis of the models of communication Saussure’s circuit of parole (speech) The communication positions The active semiotic work of the interlocutors and their relationship	lecture	2
7	Communication through objects Communication networks and their patterns The channel and signification	lecture	2
8	Jacobson’s functions of language and the message The context of the text  Intertextuality	lecture	2
9	Accompanying semiotic systems Text and (micro-)situation Socio-semiotics: A and B as competence cultural subjects	lecture	2
10	Socio-semiotics and pragmatics: A and B as overtly active objects (From socio-semiotics to) social semiotics: A and B as material social subjects in a macro-situation	lecture	2
11	Is always the message received the same with the message sent?  Issues on cultural aspects and on channels noise. Discussion and case studies	lecture/discussion	2
12	New technologies – new challenges in communication: From direct, to mediated and to human-computer communication. In-class exercise on communicating with artificial intelligence. Discussion on the emergence of communication mediums and participators.	lecture/exercise	2
13	Communication as power and communication as action in cultural and social networks.	lecture	2
14	Student’s oral presentations on their chosen topic and their communication activities during the course, class discussion and feedback. Deadline for final papers.	Presentations/discussion	2
15	Feedback and review of corrected papers. Students’ feedback on course.  General discussion.	Discussion	2

 

Bibliography

(Pertinent articles and online bibliographical resources will be available on Moodle for each lesson)

 

Bankov, Kristian and Paul Cobley (eds). (2017) Semiotics and its Masters. Volume 1. De Gruyter.

 

Christodoulou, Anastasia. and George Damaskinidis. (2011). ‘Documentary Readings: A Visual Social Semiotic Analysis of Stinger: A New Weapon with an Age-old History.’ In Tiziana Migliore (ed) Retorica delvisibile. Strategie dell’immagine tra significazione e comunicazione. 2.Comunicazioni, vol. 2, Roma: Aracne, pp.1431-1442.

 

Eco, Umberto. (1976). A Theory of Semiotics. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

 

Eco, Umberto. (1984). Semiotics and the Philosophy of Language. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

 

Greimas, Algirdas J. ([1966] 1984). Structural Semantics: An Attempt at a Method. Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press.

 

Greimas, Algirdas J. ([1970] 1987). On meaning (Theory and History of Literature 38). Minneapolis: University of Minessota Press.

 

Jakobson, Roman. (1960). Linguistics and Communication Theory. Online

https://monoskop.org/images/e/e2/Jakobson_Roman_1960_1971_Linguistics_and_Communication_Theory.pdf

 

Lagopoulos, Alexandros Ph. ([2000] 2006). A Global Model of Communication in Communication Theories: Critical Concepts in Media and Cultural Studies. Paul Cobley (ed.). London and New York: Routledge. Vol. IV: 389-419.

 

Lagopoulos, Alexandros Ph. (1996). Social space: An articulation of the material and the semiotic. S: European Journal for Semiotic Studies 8(4): 579-596.

 

McLuhan, Marshall and Quentin Fiore. (1967). The Medium is the Message: An Inventory of Effects. New York, London, Toronto: Bantam Books.

 

Anthologies

 

Cobley, Paul. (ed). (2006). Communication Theories: Critical Concepts in Media and Cultural Studies.  London and New York: Routledge. 4 vols.

 

Gottdiener, Matt and Alexandros Lagopoulos and Karin Boklund-Lagopoulou. (2003). Semiotics. London: Sage Publications. 4 vols.