INTERNATIONAL SEMIOTIC CONFERENCE
BOOK OF ABSTRACTS
Łódź, 24–27 May, 2015
Edited by Joanna Ciesielka Monika Kopytowska Anna Miller-Klejsa Artur Gałkowski
INTERNATIONAL SEMIOTIC CONFERENCE SIGN – THOUGHT – WORD – WORK (Semiotica2015)
http://www.semiotica.uni.lodz.pl
University of Łódź 24–27 May 2015
GUEST OF HONOUR
Prof. Umberto Eco
CONFERENCE VENUE
Faculty of Philology, University of Łódź, Pomorska 171/173, 90-236 Łódź and Conference Center of the University of Łódź, Kopcińskiego 16/18, 90-232 Łódź
PUBLISHING PARTNERS
John Benjamins Publishing Company, Cambridge University Press, Brill, Mouton de Gruyter
UNDER THE AUSPICES OF
Embassy of Italy in Poland President of the University of Łódź Faculty of Philology, University of Łódź Istituto Italiano di Cultura di Varsavia Centro Internazionale di Scienze Semiotiche Polish Pragmatics Association Polish Semiotic Association Linguistics Committee, Polish Academy of Sciences, Łódź Committee of Slavic Onomastics, c/o International Slavic Committee The Wisława Szymborska Foundation International Communicology Institute, Washington, DC, USA
2 ORGANIZERS
Department of Italian Studies, University of Łódź http://www.italianistyka.uni.lodz.pl/
Department of Pragmatics, University of Łódź http://anglistyka.uni.lodz.pl/ZPJ?department
Interdisciplinary Center of Humanistic Sciences, University of Łódź www.centrumhumanistyczne.uni.lodz.pl
CO-ORGANIZER
Istituto Italiano di Cultura di Varsavia www.iicvarsavia.esteri.it
“Noir sur Blanc” Publishing House http://www.noir.pl
ORGANIZING COMMITTEE
Prof. Dr. Artur Gałkowski, Prof. Dr. Piotr Cap, Prof. Dr. Krystyna Pietrych, Dr. Paola Ciccolella (Conference Co-Chairs)
Dr. Monika Kopytowska, Dr. Joanna Ciesielka, Dr. Tamara Roszak, Dr. Joanna Ozimska, Dr. Sebastian Zacharow (Conference Secretaries)
Prof. Dr. Jadwiga Czerwińska, Prof. Dr. Tomasz Cieślak, Dr. Anna Miller-Klejsa, Ms. Diana Dąbrowska, dott. Ilario Cola, dott. Stefano Cavallo (Conference Team)
3
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Conference scope and themes ...... 5
Lecture by Professor Umberto Eco ………………………………………………….. 8
Plenary abstracts ...... 9
Abstracts in English ...... 21
Abstracts in French ...... 71
Abstracts in Italian ...... 77
Abstracts in Polish ...... 85
List of participants ...... 107
4 CONFERENCE SCOPE AND THEMES
The print does not always have the same shape as the body that impressed it, and it doesn’t always derive from the pressure of a body. At times it reproduces the impression a body has left in our mind: it is the print of an idea. The idea is sign of things, and the image is sign of the idea, sign of a sign. But from the image I reconstruct, if not the body, the idea that others had of it.
Umberto Eco, The Name of the Rose
A sign is what we perceive and realize. It comprises a whole range of phenomena, objects, beings, as well as ideas within our mental maps. Each fragment of material and immaterial reality perceived by our mind and senses has to be processed by human thought, which becomes the first and most basic tool we use to harness knowledge expressed in various types of signs. It is thus not a truism to say that, seen from this perspective, human thought is boundless. Can it, however, encompass the totality of the world? Individually, it certainly cannot; socially and historically, depending on the accessibility of the surrounding world –both real and fictional – and on the language used to assign meanings to things once they are perceived, it can strive to reach the limits of its potential. And here is where a word comes into play. Being a sign itself, it can be used to indicate, describe and conceptualize a selected fragment of any material, spiritual, or imagined space. A sign and an idea give life to words. Is the reverse process possible? There are spheres where words, as parts of larger structures, describe and create the world. They are endowed with agency and performative potential. Merged with a sign by the thought, a word creates meaning for both the creator herself and the addressee. The “matter” of the word is thus constituted by acts of speaking and acts of encoding its meaning in writing. What emerges as a result of these two processes is work, a totality of what is communicated. Understood in this way, the work can be situated within the frames of various discourses, within the sphere of both everyday or specialized communication, and, last but not least, within the realm of literature. Hence, it should be viewed in the widest perspective possible, allowing for new interpretations and understandings.
Such multidimensional perspective will be encouraged, explored and implemented in conference presentations and discussions on the dynamic nature and relationships between the four interrelated concepts: sign, thought, word, and work. The notions which are at the core of both domain-oriented and interdisciplinary semiotic research will become the focus of our academic investigations and critical reflections to which we invite all those who are interested in semiotics: linguists concentrating on the theory of language and its social function, philosophers, literary scholars and critics, translators rendering the work in another language, and humanists open to knowledge about the world and the signs present in it.
MAIN THEMES
- semiotics of communication and culture - cognitive semiotics - semiotics of art - literary semiotics - media and film semiotics - semiotics of advertising - forms and functions of signs - signs in discourse - sign aesthetics - words and signs
5 - from thoughts to signs and works - pragmatic perspective on sign/word/work - semiotics of lexis - semiotics of onymy - semiotics of visual design - rhetoric of sign-oriented discourse - defining literary, artistic and applied works - text typology - semiotic strategy and stylistic convention of text/work - intentio operis, intentio auctoris and intentio lectoris in text reading and interpretation -palimpsest story: the role of history in literary work
SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE
Prof. Patrizia Bertini Malgarini, Libera Università Maria Ss. Assunta LUMSA, Italy Prof. Ingeborga Beszterda, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poland Prof. Orazio Antonio Bologna, Università Pontificia Salesiana, Italy Prof. Paolo Bosisio, Università Statale di Milano, Italy Prof. Piotr Cap, University of Łódź, Poland Prof. Paul Chilton, Lancaster University, UK Prof. Tomasz Cieślak, University of Łódź, Poland Prof. Aleksandra Cieślikowa, Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland Prof. Jadwiga Czerwińska, University of Łódź, Poland Prof. Paolo D’Achille, Università degli Studi Roma Tre, Italy Prof. Paolo Fabbri, Libera Università Internazionale di Studi Sociali LUISS, Centro Internazionale di Scienze Semiotiche CiSS dell'Università di Urbino, Italy Prof. Mieczysław Gajos, University of Łódź, Poland Prof. Artur Gałkowski, University of Łódź, Poland Prof. Giovanni Gobber, Università del Sacro Cuore, Italy Prof. Jean-Pierre Goudaillier, Université René Descartes Paris 5 Nouvelle Sorbonne, France Prof. Bob Hodge, University of Western Sidney, Australia Prof. Elżbieta Jamrozik, University of Warsaw, Poland Prof. Alicja Kacprzak, University of Łódź, Poland Prof. Barbara Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk, University of Łódź, Poland Prof. Mirosław Loba, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poland Prof. Justyna Łukaszewicz, University of Wrocław, Poland Prof. Jadwiga Miszalska, Jagiellonian University, Poland Prof. Joanna Odrowąż-Sypniewska, University of Warsaw, Poland Prof. Jerzy Pelc, University of Warsaw, Poland Prof. Krystyna Pietrych, University of Łódź, Poland Prof. Steven Pinker, Harvard University, USA Prof. Jarosław Płuciennik, University of Łódź, Poland Prof. Paolo Poccetti, Università degli Studi di Roma Tor Vergata, Italy Prof. Piotr Salwa, University of Warsaw, Poland; Polish Academy of Sciences in Rome Prof. John R. Searle, University of California, Berkeley, USA Prof. Hanna Serkowska, University of Warsaw, Poland Prof. Tadeusz Sławek, University of Silesia, Poland Dr Marcin Sobieszczański, Université de Nice – Sophia Antipolis, France Prof. Roman Sosnowski, Jagiellonian University, Poland
6 Prof. Piotr Stalmaszczyk, University of Łódź, Poland Prof. Rudolf Šrámek, Masaryk University, Czech Republic Prof. Ugo Vignuzzi, Università di Roma La Sapienza, Italy Prof. Maria Patrizia Violi, Università di Bologna, Italy Prof. Ugo Volli, Università degli Studi di Torino, Italy Prof. Zdzisław Wąsik, Poland Prof. Stanisław Widłak, Jagiellonian University, Poland Prof. Monika Woźniak, Università di Roma La Sapienza, Italy Prof. Krzysztof Żaboklicki, University of Warsaw, Poland
CONFERENCE LANGUAGES
English, Italian, French, Polish
7
Professor UMBERTO ECO
Università di Bologna
“The Future of Semiotics”
The lecture delivered during the conferment of the title of Doctor Honoris Causa of the University of Łódź on Professor Umberto Eco
Łódź, 24.05.2015
8 PLENARY ABSTRACTS
Patrizia Bertini Malgarini Libera Universita Maria Ss. Assunta LUMSA
Ugo Vignuzzi Universita di Roma La Sapienza
Caratterizzazione diatopica e “giallo all'italiana”
La presenza della caratterizzazione diatopica è senz'altro una delle marche fondamentali dei livelli più avvertiti di quella narrativa di genere che ci è piaciuto definire "giallo all'italiana" (vd. P. Bertini Malgarini, U. Vignuzzi, La dialettalità nel "giallo all'italiana": naturalismo o espressionismo?, in Giovanni Ruffino e Mari D'Agostino (a cura di), Storia della lingua italiana e dialettologia, Atti dell' 8. Convegno internazionale dell'AISLI, Palermo, Centro di studi filologici e linguistici siciliani, 2010; P. Bertini Malgarini, U. Vignuzzi, Il romanesco nel giallo all'italiana, in «Contributi Di Filologia dell'Italia Mediana», 24 (2010); P. Bertini Malgarini, U. Vignuzzi, Fattacci brutti in Borgo. Mario Quattrucci e Roma "luogo del delitto", «Esperienze letterarie», XXXVII, 2 (2012); e già P. Bertini Malgarini, U. Vignuzzi, Capitoli per una storia linguistica del giallo all'italiana, in «RID, Rivista Italiana di Dialettologia», 32 (2008); P. Bertini Malgarini, U. Vignuzzi, La lingua del giallo all'italiana tra mimesi e tradizione, in Maurizio Pistelli e Norberto Cacciaglia (a cura di), Perugia in giallo 2007 Indagine sul poliziesco italiano, Roma, Meridiana Libri e Donzelli, 2009). L'intervento si propone quindi di ripercorrere criticamente la presenza del localismo linguistico, dagli albori del genere (Il cappello del prete di Emilio De Marchi e i feuilletons di Antonio Mastriani, degli anni '80 dell'Ottocento) ai romanzi di Andrea Camilleri e dei molti altri che, sulla sua scia, hanno dato spazio (più o meno consapevolmente e più o meno ampiamente) al "colore linguistico locale", inteso come ingrediente necessario alla definizione dell'ambientazione "municipale" italiana. Naturalmente si terrà doverosamente conto del dispiegarsi della varietà locale nei diversi livelli del continuum sociolinguistico (dal dialetto più stretto - o basiletto vernacolare - fino al minimamente rilevato italiano regionale), e della assai diversa valenza della presenza del localismo linguistico nelle parti di mimesi dialogica piuttosto che in quelle di diegesi autoriale.
9 Orazio Antonio Bologna Universita Pontificia Salesiana
La semiotica nell’esperienza letteraria greca
Durante la comunicazione si passa in rassegna il concetto di semiotica nella cultura moderna, con il confronto diretto delle diverse scuole, che, pur diverse per pensiero e concezioni, concordano su un dato fondamentale: il σημεῖ ον, signum, il segno, mediante il quale colui che parla o scrive intende trasmettere il pensiero, il messaggio, la sensazione. Non c’e pagina della letteratura greca, nella quale non si trovi un σημεῖ ον, un segno concreto o convenzionale, che richiami alla mente dell’ascoltatore o del lettore un’idea oppure un concetto ben definiti. Si prendono, ovviamente, le mosse da Omero, che offre numerosissimi spunti, soprattutto la dove, per ragioni metriche, ricorre il lessema σήματα. Successivamente si passano in esame brani di prosa, tratti da Aristotele e da Platone, i quali hanno apportato notevoli contributi per la nascita e lo studio della semiotica come scienza. In questa breve rassegna non poteva mancare un riferimento alla tragedia, che ha avuto un ruolo molto importante nella formazione morale e culturale della πο λῖς e del πολίτης.
10 Paolo Bosisio Universita degli Studi di Milano
Teatro e scienza
Arte e scienza appaiono come due ambiti del sapere umano estranei e inconciliabili fra loro. Ma la storia dimostra che in molti casi proprio l’arte e, nello specifico, lo spettacolo si sono rivelati veicoli efficaci di divulgazione e di discussione scientifica. Attraverso l’analisi sintetica di tre ben note drammaturgie dedicate alla scienza e ai suoi protagonisti, si dimostra il ruolo propositivo e costruttivo che l’arte e il teatro possono svolgere nei confronti dell’umanità e del suo dilemmatico rapporto con la scienza stessa. Con Vita di Galileo, Brecht compie un percorso complesso e stratificato di valutazione dell’impatto della scienza e di un suo protagonista sul mondo in epoca passata e nella contemporaneità, articolato attraverso tre diverse redazioni (1938-1956) che testimoniano del progressivo cambiamento di giudizio del drammaturgo nei confronti delle responsabilità della scienza. Quanto essa possa sfuggire al controllo del singolo uomo di scienza, sottraendo alla sua volontà il controllo della ricaduta sociale di una sconvolgente scoperta, costituisce il tema dei Fisici (1961) di Dürrenmatt, un testo che affronta con la mediazione del grottesco alcuni dilemmi morali che la scienza sa porre ai grandi uomini. Nel suo dramma Copenaghen (1998), il britannico Michael Frayn sonda con la forza della reinvenzione drammaturgica i possibili contenuti e le valenze etiche di uno storico incontro avvenuto nel 1941 tra due premi Nobel legati dal vincolo che unisce il maestro all’allievo, e separati dall’adesione ai due poli dello schieramento bellico, gli Stati Uniti e la Germania. Ignoti rimangono i contenuti che davvero scaturirono dall’incontro, il cui tema centrale fu la scoperta della scissione dell’atomo e la conseguente realizzazione della bomba atomica, che conduce il drammaturgo a intessere il dialogo di gravi interrogativi etici e politici oltre che scientifici. Di interesse decisamente superiore appare l’esperienza artistica proposta da Luca Ronconi nel 2002 con Infinities, uno spettacolo che il regista colloca nello spazio non teatrale di un capannone presente nella periferia di Milano, già sede dei laboratori di scenografia della Scala. Un luogo che ospita cinque spazi diversi fra loro entro cui spettatori itineranti sono lasciati liberi di costruire il loro personale percorso di fruizione. Interessato alla scienza e al suo linguaggio, Ronconi commissiona a John David Barrow un un lavoro sul tema dell’infinito, o meglio dei diversi infiniti possibili. Infinities è un non-testo: frammentario, estraneo alle peculiarità proprie di una pièce, come a quelle di un trattato scientifico, composto da cinque sequenze, nelle quali il tema dell’infinito è declinato e indagato secondo altrettanti modelli differenti attraverso la figura del paradosso, come in un gioco stravagante e bizzarro, ma pur sempre costruito su regole rigorose. Privo di continuità, il materiale drammaturgico non si articola intorno a un plot e non è affidato al dialogo fra personaggi identificabili e costanti, bensì scaturisce da un movimento dialettico di contrapposizione fra differenti posizioni teoriche che si fronteggiano di volta in volta nelle forme di ipotesi, dimostrazioni logiche, opinioni comuni, utopie, teorie scientifiche, desideri, sogni e incubi dell’umanità. Per evitare ciò che più teme, il rischio della divulgazione e della didascalicità, Ronconi pretende che l’argomento scientifico non entri in teatro sotto la semplificante e rassicurante mascheratura teatrale, bensì giunga alla scena “per quello che è con le proprie asperità e difficoltà”. Nella visione di Luca Ronconi e nel suo modo di intendere un’ipotesi di rapporto tra scienza e teatro, quest’ultimo deve rimanere un luogo in cui non vengano spiegate o divulgate teorie scientifiche, ma in cui si possa accedere a un sapere artistico, estetico ed emotivo, che trascenda le possibilità umane di conoscere e comprendere analiticamente attraverso il puro uso della ragione. Come ricorda il regista a proposito del suo straordinario spettacolo: “Questo viaggio è una sollecitazione all’interrogazione, […] un invito alla crisi e non alla costruzione di certezze”.
11 Piotr Cap University of Łódź
Umberto Eco and the “Unbearable Lightness” of Genre Interpretation
In his 1983 Postille a Il nome della rosa (Postscript to The Name of the Rose), Umberto Eco makes a thought-provoking generalization: while literary forms enjoy the comfort of letting their addressees wander in search of interpretation, non-literary communications do not enjoy such a comfort. That is, all “real-life” acts of communication are supposed to carry generic features which make their analysis and interpretation possible. This however does not mean that such generic features are always easy to find, define and interpret. Just the opposite – one could claim that virtually all contemporary public discourse involves methodological and analytic hardships. Following up on this hypothesis, the present paper is a tentative attempt to identify some basic-level conceptual and theoretical problems underlying the mainstream genre theory, which adversely affect the analysis of rapidly evolving, complex and hybrid genres in the modern communicative space. Having discussed these problems, I go on to I argue that the space of contemporary public communication should be viewed as not only an “analytic problem”, but also/rather a domain whose explorations could potentially revise the existing principles of genre theory. In particular, I suggest such explorations should focus on the conception of (public communication) genres as (i) abstractions, (ii) activators and realizers of context, (iii) flexible macrostructures, (iv) social field entities, (v) assigners of interpersonal roles. Notwithstanding a possible advancement of genre theory resulting from this approach, I conclude that it is only a first and admittedly uncertain step in trying to establish a sound theoretical framework for communicative genres in the modern discourse space.
12 Paolo Fabbri Libera Università Internazionale di Studi Sociali LUISS, Centro internazionale di Scienze Semiotiche CiSS dell'Università di Urbino
Il segno camaleonte: mimetismo, segreto, camouflage
Il segno, secondo U. Eco, serve a mentire. Tra le tante funzioni semiotiche, la pratica del camouflage – mimesis e kripsis – presenta tutta la complessità interattiva e strategica dei segni. A partire dalle forme di vita più semplici – microbi, insetti, ecc. – fino agli animali superiori e l'uomo. Tra il visibile e l'invisibile, le tattiche interdipendenti del travestimento e dell'inganno manifestano le astuzie semiotiche della caccia e della guerra, delle arti e della moda.
13 Giovanni Gobber Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore
Kazimierz Ajdukiewicz and the Polish roots of categorial grammar
Categorial grammars are useful tools for describing syntactic structures in natural languages. They were introduced by Carnap’s pupil Yehoshua Bar-Hillel, who praised Ajdukiewicz’s paper “Die syntaktische Konnexität” (1935) as the first attempt to develop a “quasi-arithmetical notation for syntactic description”. Nevertheless, Ajdukiewicz’s method cannot be reduced to a mere description ruled by concatenation, in the spirit of a Carnapian logical syntax that lies at the core of the first categorial grammars. In fact, Ajdukiewicz’s notion of “connexity” has a semantic ground that cannot be grasped by only formal methods. This foundation can be traced back to Husserl’s Forth Logical Investigation, a work that strongly influenced many Polish philosophers and logicians. In this contribution an attempt is made to reconstruct both Husserl’s and Leśniewski’s influence on Ajdukiewicz’s method for describing “semantic categories” that was first outlined in a paper published in Polish and hardly ever considered in the scientific literature on categorial grammars. It will be shown that a formal semantic level lies at the very foundation of Ajdukiewicz’s theory of “connexity”, which by no means can be taken as a sort of poor antecedent of concatenation-based categorial grammars.
References
Ajdukiewicz, K. 1934. W sprawie ‘universaljów’. Przegląd Filozoficzny XXXVII, p. 219–34. Ajdukiewicz, K. 1935. Die syntaktische Konnexität. Studia Philosophica I, p. 1-27 Bar-Hillel, Y. 1953. A quasi-arithmetical notation for syntactic description. Language XXIX, p. 47- 58. Curry, H. 1958. Combinatory logic. Amsterdam: North-Holland. Gobber, G. 1985. Alle origini della grammatica categoriale: Husserl, Leśniewski, Ajdukiewicz. Rivista di Filosofia Neo-Scolastica LXXVII, p. 258-295. Gobber, G. 1986. Il dibattito sulla natura logica delle connessioni sintattiche. Rivista di Filosofia Neo-Scolastica LXXVIII, p. 34-71. Gobber, G. 1992. La sintassi fra struttura e funzione. Brescia: La Scuola.
14 Gunther Kress University College London
Recognizing semiotic work: tools, materials and issues in a social semiotic theory
Theories are images of the 'the social' in which they are made; the issues they need to deal with are shaped by the contingencies of the social conditions in which semiotic work is done. The one acts as a mirror to the other. In the talk I introduce some concepts from a social semiotic theory (e.g. ‘recognition’, ‘semiotic work’, ‘modes’, affordances, the motivated sign) and show their use as tools and materials in relation to issues which seem, to me, to be central for semiotics and for wider social questions at the moment. Using materials from a variety of research projects – as well as some materials from ‘the everyday’ – I show what is meant by semiotic work in a social semiotic (multimodal) theory, in a response to questions and problems in the contemporary world. The examples I draw on come from research in clinical settings (the Operating Theatre); from ‘education’ (understood in its broadest sense); and from professional settings of different kinds. On the basis of this (limited) discussion of the various examples, I sketch a theoretical frame in which – among others - communication, learning, meaning-making, identity, are seen as entirely and intricately related matters.
15 Jarosław Płuciennik University of Łódź
Umberto Eco’s semantic universals, Mark Johnson’s cognitive semantics and a concept of body in Psalm 139: a case of Polish translations
Umberto Eco clearly states a concept of semantic universals in a short essay in a form of letter included “In che cosa crede chi non crede” from 1996 (a Polish translation of the piece is entitled “Gdy na scenę wkracza inny” in: Eco, Pięć pism moralnych, 1999). He presents a kind of ethics that starts with cognitive semantic universals rooted in our body. These universal concepts according to Eco are such because they are independent of any particular culture. Such concepts as, for instance, “top and bottom”, “left and right”, or “a sense of personal liberty” are rooted in the basic fact that we are bodies. This claim is similar to cognitive semantics as presented especially by Mark Johnson (and with George Lakoff in Metaphors We Leave by) in Moral Imagination. Implications of Cognitive Science for Ethics (1993) and The Meaning of the Body. Aesthetics of Human Understanding (1999). I would like to present an application of those claims to the analysis of Polish translations of Psalm 139. My main claim is that an ancient Hebrew concept of a person is not at odds with such secular semantic approaches as provided by Eco and Johnson. There are, however, some interesting issues related to intercultural translations of such a concept.
16 Piero Polidoro Libera Università Maria Ss. Assunta LUMSA
A “reasonable” approach to contemporary semiotics questions: Umberto Eco’s theory
Aristotle acknowledged arbitrariness in language, but only between sings and concepts and not between concepts and things. This idea has been criticized many times: we cannot be sure that the conceptual system (and the linguistic system that is based on it or coincides with it) is a perfect mirror of reality. Distrust in a natural relationship between our concepts and the structure of the world has led to many important consequences, such as a stronger interest for cultural differences and for how language shapes the way we understand and organize reality. During the 20th century this approach has been stronger than ever and has had a deep impact on linguistic and semiotic theories. Once language had been freed from ontological responsibilities, for instance, Hjelmslev was able to propose a deductive method for his Glossematics. His description of double arbitrariness is so clear that it has been sometimes used as a basis for relativism, a position probably very far from Hjelmslev's believe. Umberto Eco's semiotics is a good example of a theory that is, at the same time, the effect of and the reaction to this background and we can profit from a discussion of its main features. My proposal is to analyze it on the basis of the opposition between rational and reasonable (ragione vs ragionevolezza in Italian), a category often used in the last decades (and we can just think to its importance in Rawls's work). The reasonable is a leading method of Eco's thought and this has sometimes been acknowledged by the author himself. Continuous adjustments and negotiations are not only among his objects of study, but also his founding approach, a way to compare theories and ideas or to face the ontological problem in contemporary semiotics. The reasonable is also the consequence of the passage from a conception of sign as equivalence to one of sign as inference. With this fundamental change, determinism in interpretation is no more possible, while new and more flexible spaces are opened to the theory of text. But, again, this does not mean surrendering to all possible interpretations: a good method has to help us setting boundaries to our theoretical and analytical activity. Between old certainties and total uncertainty we can still grab something very important. This conception is not only something we can find in Eco's essays, but it is also one of the strongest messages coming from his novels.
17 Patrizia Violi Università degli Studi di Bologna
Weaving a path between stabilization and innovation through the encyclopaedic labyrinth. Where is the subject hidden?
The Encyclopaedia is a central concept in Eco's work, both at the theoretical level and in his fictional writings, where it is evoked as a figurative image as well as a rhetorical device, in the form of the many lists of objects, plants, animals and other things that often populate his novels. The Encyclopaedia, however, is not a homogeneous concept, and can be interrogated on different levels and circumscribed in various ways, as Eco himself has made clear in his most recent writings. This paper will discuss some of the many possible different ways of using this encyclopaedic framework to interpret singular texts, according to different strategies that may focus more on the stabilisation of, or the innovation potential of meaning. In both cases it will be shown how a form of diffused subjectivity is implied, a subject without "I", alternative to the traditional enunciation-based one.
18 Ugo Volli Università degli Studi di Torino
Expression and “self-effective” signs
Ferdinand de Saussure assigned to semiotics the mission to study "the life of signs as part of social life" and the conception of Charles Sanders Peirce's semiotics was even more extensive. But, in fact, semiotics in recent decades was mainly occupied by a much narrower class of signs, those whose main function is "referential" in the sense of Jakobson (including the reference to possible words, as happens in fiction, paintings, literature etc.). There is a wide range of signs, (or as we prefer to say today, emphasizing the complexity: of texts) that work in a very different way. They do not refer to some external reality, do not stay “for other”, but communicate a senders identity (function "expressive"), invite recipients to treat him/her in a certain way (function "phatic"), attest and often even form some standing or relation. They are signs, because they literally make sense and it is possible to lie through them, but they don't have the same structure and working which characterizes the “regular” texts. These signs are "self-effective" or performative (Austin) or expressive, that means they work just for the fact of being used and put in action, as happens in cases as diverse as the intrinsically coded acts (Ekman & Friesen, Gombrich), many religious and civil rites aimed at the memory, in clothing, status symbols, nonverbal language etc. It 's time to resume the analysis of this type of signs using the tools of modern semiotics.
19 Jordan Zlatev Lund University
Learning signs and other meanings: Semiotic development in the first three years of life
Children develop from birth cognitively, in terms what they know about their surrounding physical and social environment, and in terms of meaning, understood most generally as the value-based relationship between a subject and the experiential world (Zlatev, 2009, 2013). As knowledge and meaning are closely interrelated, ontogenetic development is essentially cognitive-semiotic. From the standpoint of a cognitive semiotics, meaning is multifaceted, and signs are one, albeit important, type of semiotic structure. Understanding “the other”, intersubjectivity (Zlatev, Racine, Sinha, & Itkonen, 2008) is at least as important, and this understanding develops from initial spontaneous empathy to increasingly complexly mediated modes, involving communicative intentions, norms (Zlatev & Andrén, 2009), and folk psychological narratives (Hutto, 2008). I summarize a model of cognitive-semiotic development during the first three years of life consisting of six consecutive stages, integrating ideas from classics (Piaget, 1962; Werner & Kaplan, 1963), as well as more recent research (McCune, 2008; Tomasello, 2008). A developmental stage is a period in the child’s life characterized by a set of cognitive-semiotic capacities which dominate cognition and semiosis during this period without replacing earlier capacities, and which potentiate the development of further stages. Within this overall framework, I focus on three key crucial developmental landmarks: the emergence of pointing at the end of the first year, of iconic gestures during the second, followed by the ”symbolic insight” opening the doors to language.
References
Hutto, D. 2008. First communions: Mimetic sharing without theory of mind The Shared Mind: Perspectives on Intersubjectivity (pp. 245-276). Amsterdam: Benjamins. McCune, L. 2008. How children learn how to learn language. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Piaget, J. 1962. Play, dreams, and imitation in childhood. New York: Norton. Tomasello, M. (2008). The origins of human communication. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Werner, H., & Kaplan, B. 1963. Symbol formation: An organismic-developmental approach to language and the expression of thought. New York: Wiley. Zlatev, J. 2009. The semiotic hierarchy: Life, consciousness, signs and language. Cognitive Semiotics, 4, 169-200. Zlatev, J. 2013. The mimesis hierarchy of semiotic development: Five stages of intersubjectivity in children. Public Journal of Semiotics, 4, 47-70. Zlatev, J., & Andrén, M. 2009. Stages and transitions in children's semiotic development Studies in Language and Cognition (pp. 380-401). Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars. Zlatev, J., Racine, T., Sinha, C., & Itkonen, E. 2008. The shared mind: Perspectives on intersubjectivity. Amsterdam: Benjamins.
20 ABSTRACTS IN ENGLISH
Paulina Ambroży Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań
“Rendezvous of Light”: Emily Dickinson, the Luminists and the Sign of the Absolute
In a letter to her sister-in-law Susan (Letters, Vol. 3.799), Emily Dickinson used the expression “Rendezvous of Light” to describe the mystique that she saw in the death of Susan’s son. In my analysis, I intend to explore the rich resonance of such light-oriented metaphors within the poet’s continuous rethinking of death, afterlife and immortality, and to juxtapose it with similar concerns in the American Romantic painting. Here, my special focus is on works of the so-called Luminist School, represented by John Frederick Kensett, Fitz Henry Lane, Sanford Robinson Gifford and Martin Johnson Heade. Both Dickinson and the Luminists attempted to create an idiom capable of communicating the Absolute as part of a larger Transcendentalist project within American Romanticism. The Amherst poet and her painter contemporaries shared Ralph Waldo Emerson’s recognition of art as a transcendental force, and, following the latter’s penchant for solar metaphors, explored the material and symbolic power of light as a mode of probing the realm of the Spirit. And yet, as I shall prove, their search ultimately yielded different results. Admittedly, Dickinson was intensely influenced by the Hudson River School and Luminist painting, and her imagery attests to an awareness of space, light and color; nevertheless, she swerved from her painter contemporaries’ trust in the illuminative force and stability of the material sign. My presentation is an attempt to investigate expressive and representational powers, as well as limits of painterly and verbal signs, in confrontation with the idea of the Romantic Absolute. Using selected semiotic and ekphrastic theories, I shall argue that Dickinson’s “rendezvous” with the Absolute are rarely moments of retreat or meticulous ‘light-gathering’ into the perfect coulisse of neoclassical design (as in Thomas Cole’s landscapes) or the hermetically sealed and coldly glittering surface of Luminist masterpieces (see Kensett, Heade or Lane). Rather, she uses words to create dramatic tension between the Absolute and its unrepresentability, as she continually ‘slashes’ the surface of her poem-paintings, dispersing the light in equally powerful metaphors of darkness, and ‘roughens’ her works’ texture through broken syntax and the heavy ‘brushstroke’ of her fractured line. Whereas the Luminist method of locking light in the surface of the canvas leads to an unearthly effect of stilled time and infinitude, Dickinson’s eccentric idiom, graphic layout and spatiotemporal imagery all push against that stillness and ultimately darken the solar optimism of Transcendental belief.
21 Łukasz Jan Berezowski University of Łódź
A semiotic analysis of Italy’s political discourse: Silvio Berlusconi’s case
The introductory part of my paper shall be dedicated to the theoretical background applicable in the analysis of political speech in linguistic terms. In particular, the perspectives of semiotics and Critical Discourse Analysis shall be incorporated including models of metaphorical theories by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson (1980), critical analyses by Elena Semino and Michela Masci (1996) as well as semiotic analysis of politics’ language from Umberto Eco's “linguaggio politico” (1973). According to the latter, political discourse “substitutes declarative persuasiveness with magic formulas and secret codes represents a linguistic and civil reality that every democratic community must deconstruct through the process of demystification”. In the main body of my speech, I shall examine the use of metaphors, rhetorical figures and body language in the discourse of Silvio Berlusconi, former prime minister of Italy, media tycoon and entrepreneur. A selection of video extracts, replayed by way of example during the presentation, will highlight three crucial moments in Berlusconi’s political career: firstly, his “discesa in campo” in 1994 as a candidate running for governance, secondly his great comeback into politics in 2001, and finally his unexpected resignation in 2011. The emphasis shall be placed on the message of the speeches by analyzing recurring metaphors and metonyms in Berlusconi’s language. This will provide the participants with a better understanding of the way signs are used by politicians to communicate with their electorate. As a conclusion, I shall advocate the thesis that the use of metaphors and gestures is a fundamental part of populist discourse that Berlusconi has brought into Italian public life.
References
Benedetti, A. 2004. Il linguaggio e la retorica della nuova politica italiana: Silvio Berlusconi e Forza Italia. Michigan: Erga. Eco, U. 1976. A theory of semiotics. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Eco, U. 1973. Il linguaggio politico in G. L. Beccaria (ed.) I linguaggi settoriali in Italia, Milano: Bompiani. Gualdo, R. and Dell’anna M. V. 2004. La faconda Repubblica. La lingua della politica in Italia (1992- 2004). Lecce: Manni. Lakoff, G. and Johnson M. 1980. Metaphors we live by. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. Semino, E. And Masci, M. 1996. Politics is football: Metaphor in the Discourse of Silvio Berlusconi in Italy. Discourse and Society, 7 (2): 243-269.
22 Łukasz Berger Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań
Negotiating the interactional meaning on the Roman stage
According to the already classical distinction of the functional components of language – ideational, interpersonal and textual – formulated by Halliday (1975), every utterance is a combination of the three modes of meaning. This ‘sociosemiotic’ perspective allows to better interpret “the irregularities, the disharmonies and the tensions that characterize human interaction and social processes” (Halliday 1975: 42). Hence his theory was easily incorporated into the socio-pragmatics (e. g. Leech 1983) or the functional discourse grammar (e. g. Hannay & Kroon 2005). In the present paper our intention is to adapt this conceptual framework to analyze the on- stage communication in the Roman comedies by Plautus (III/II B.C.). The main focus is given to the conversational openings, where the ideational function of the content seems to play a lesser role. It is argued, nonetheless, that even such a highly conventional modes of verbal exchange are means of transmitting “the indexical information about aspects of participants’ social identity relevant to structuring the interactional consensus of the present and future encounters” (Laver 1975: 236). Accordingly we present different variants of the linguistic tokens that fulfill the functions of the conversational moves in the opening phase (summon, identification, greeting, preliminary topic – see Schegloff 1968), indicating the interpersonal meaning they imply for a particular Plautine dialogue. The aim of this analysis is to illustrate the mechanisms that are employed by the interlocutors not only to negotiate their interactional roles (Goffman 1955) but also to reinterpret the sequential structure of the on-going conversation (Hoffmann 1983). In a way of conclusion, we put forward the opinion that the naturalistic character of the Plautus’ dialogues is artistically achieved, in part, by the dynamic treatment of the ‘sociosemiotic’ components of the face-to-face communication.
References
Goffman, E. 1955. On face-work: An analysis of ritual elements in social interaction. Psychiatry, 18 (3), p. 213-31. Halliday, M. A. K. 1975. Language as social semiotic. In J. Maybin (ed.), Language and Literacy in Social Practice. Arnold: London 1993, p. 23-43. Hannay, M., & Kroon, C. 2005. Acts and the relationship between discourse and grammar. Functions of language, 12 (1), p. 87-124. Hoffmann, M. E. 1983. Conversation Openings in the Comedies of Plautus. In H. Pinkster (ed.), Latin Linguistics and Linguistic Theory. Amsterdam, p. 217-26. Laver, J. 1975. “Communicative functions of phatic communion”. In A. Kendon, R. M. Harris, & M. R. Key (eds.), The organization of behavior in face-to-face interaction. The Hague: Mouton, p. 215-38. Leech, G. N. 1983. Principles of Pragmatics. Longman: London. Schegloff, E. A. 1968. Sequencing in Conversational Openings. American Anthropologist, 70 (6), p. 1075–95.
23 Małgorzata Budzowska University of Łódź
From page to stage (?) Intersemiotic translation of ancient myth
Ancient myths from Mediterranean culture incessantly become an inspiration for artistic creation. This paper is to describe and analyze a contemporary theater staging of ancient myth described in ancient drama. To introduce an ancient myth on stage contemporary director usually recalls some ancient drama that is, however, regarded not as a literary basis for a performance, but rather as an impulse to discover new codes and signs of a well-known myth placed in the new cultural and social context. Furthermore, literary basis of a staging is often expanded by the literary and cultural discourse around a myth. As the example of this kind of artistic creation the production of Iphigenia by Tomasz Bazan (I Ifigenia) from the New Theatre in Łódź will be discussed. This paper will consider intersemiotic relation between the ancient drama of Euripides (Iphigenia in Aulis) which is recalled by the director and the audiovisual signs on stage. The special attention will be focused on 1. the creation of the main character (Iphigenia) played by a male actor; 2. the significance of technology (audiovisual projection, polaroid pictures made on stage); 3. scenic signs of ancient myths: requisites, mimicry, gestures, music, scenography; 4. choreography. Translation of ancient text by Euripides to the scenic signs will be analyzed in regard to the postmodern aesthetics, theory of transfictionality and performativity.
24 Stefano Carlucci University of Bari
Deforming mirrors: the author and his double
Priest: Ah! Then, at the play’s end, let him break his staff and burn his books, and renounce all his magics. Gaiman 1996, p. 21.
Mikhail Bakhtin in analyzing the vast textual production of Dostoevsky, makes a distinction between the journalist and the novelist and states that only the first speaks in a direct way, while the second one, almost like an "unmoved mover", tends to disappear within his novels, leaving the scene to his characters, subjects with full freedom of speech and capable of listening (Barthes 1977). Not always, however, the material author "vanishes" in his works and sometimes it can happen that the men made of flesh and bones faithfully reflect their counterparts reported on paper by the ink of a pen or stored in a digital memory; in some of these cases it may even happen a sort of short circuit, an accident as a result of which the writer himself may end up to be merged with his creatures. This work will study one of these “extreme cases”, more precisely the one in which an old dramatist (William Shakespeare) is precisely reflected in the protagonist (Prospero) of what is generally considered to be his last play, The Tempest.1 The fact that Prospero is an alter ego of Shakespeare is not a discovery, there are numerous studies that have highlighted the similarities between the old magician and the playwright who had left Stratford Upon Avon about a quarter of a century before in order to devote himself completely to the theatre. The peculiarity of the version of The Tempest2 that will be taken into consideration here, lies in its "meta-autobiographical" nature: in this "reinterpretation" Shakespeare acts as a denotatum and traces the main steps of his life through the eyes of Prospero. The final result of this particular backward analysis will not be very satisfactory: Shakespeare will be obliged to accept the fact of having sacrificed his real life on the altar of his art, those time and those energies which should have been devoted to daily life have been used to give life to the “realistic characters” which have populated his plays.3 This "alienating" choice, just like every sacrifice, has required a price to pay: according to the plot of this graphic novel the young actor/author in origin was not particularly good at writing dramatic texts and his creative ability is only the prize of a kind of pact, a bargain similar to the one Dr. Faustus signed with the devil. The young Shakespeare many years before had tried to compensate for his lack of talent as composer by means of an agreement with the Lord of Dreams, the main character of the saga, a bargain which would have granted him an unlimited inspiration in exchange for two dramas dedicated to the dream (A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Tempest). But just to avoid the same fate of the Dr. Faustus conceived some years before by his friend Marlowe, Shakespeare will use his representamen to brusquely interrupt the "working relationship" with the Lord of dreams and avoid eternal damnation: the abjuration pronounced
1 It is generally believed that The Tempest was written in 1616 and that Shakespeare left Stratford around 1588-89. 2 This Tempest is the final episode of a graphic novel, The Sandman, written by Neil Gaiman between 1989 and 1996. 3 “…My heart was broken by my dark lady, and I wept, in my room alone; But while I wept, somewhere inside I smiled for I knew I could take my broken heart and place it on the stage of the Globe, and make the pit cry tears of their own…And Prospero and Miranda, Caliban and Gonzalo, aethereal Ariel and silent Antonio, all of them are more real to me than silly, wise Ben Jonson, Susanna and Judith, the good citizens of Stratford, the whores and the oyster-women of London town…” Gaiman 1996, p. 23.
25 by Prospero in the final verses of The Tempest coincides with the breaking of the covenant made by the young Shakespeare many years before and closes the whole saga written by Neil Gaiman. At the moment the judgment concerning any kind of literary dignity or semiotic relevance of this text is suspended and in case will be thorough in the presentation within the Conference, for now it may be useful to point out that the thirteenth episode of the series (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) won the World Fantasy Award in 1991 in the short fiction category.
26 Kamila Ciepiela University of Łódź
Visual-spatial signifiers of sanctity
Paintings or statues of saints serve as visual reminders for Catholics to emulate the saints in their own lives since all the faithful are called to sanctity. Multitude and a great variety of the visual representations as well as the ease with which they are recognized and understood as representations of sanctity make one ponder the issue of what may account as valid features of sanctity that are depicted in works of art. Sanctity is an intricate concept that can neither be easily defined in simple language terms nor illustrated with pictures. Rather than define what sanctity is, The Catholic Encyclopedia (1912) presents its major characteristics that can be summarized in three points, namely: (1) the virtues (charity, humility, chastity), (2) love of suffering, (3) miraculous powers. The Essential Catholic Handbook: A Summary of Beliefs, Practices and Prayers (1997), on the other hand, describes who a saint is instead of supplying a definition of sanctity. According to that text, a saint is a person who has manifested heroic devotion during his or her life and who is officially honored by the Church as one who has attained heavenly glory and as one through whom God freely chooses to exhibit exceptional generosity. The above verbal characteristics suggest that our conceptualizations of sanctity are inextricably bound with the structured experience that comes from having human bodies, functioning in a fundamentally spatial reality and perceiving this reality by means of the visual sense. On the basis of our bodily experience, we make metaphorical projections from concrete, frequently visual spatial domains to abstract domains (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980; Kovecses, 2007; Kwiatkowska, 1997). These mappings are motivated by analogy and experiential correlations between the two domains. Therefore they allow us to see an inherently vague entity in terms of a much more accessible object. The aforementioned pronouncements will form the base of my presentation, in which I will first attempt to show how pictorial representations of saints allow us to conceptualize an abstract concept of sanctity in terms of the concrete, visual-spatial expressions. Secondly, because bodily experience, may be “overridden by both culture and cognitive processes” (Kovecses. 2005: 10)., I will attempt to indicate those elements that may account for variation in the visual representations of sanctity, and its varied conceptualizations.
References
Joyce, G. 1912. The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 13. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912.8 Mar. 2015
27 Marek Debnár Constantin the Philosopher University in Nitra
Intentio auctoris and self-writing
The paper deals with the problem of the author and the self in autobiographical writing with respect to Foucalt’s practice of subjectivization of discourse. Autobiography is a form of writing in which the self of the writer de nomine manifests itself mostly through interconnection between the empirical author, whose signature is attached to the work, and the implied author, whom we encounter in the work. However, this authority is only imaginary since an autobiographical depiction of life is selective. It means that the self is not given; it is a result of constant reading and writing, which constitute our “own” identity and allow us to share “our” view of the world with others. It is obvious that this has more in common with what is considered art or experience than with classic scientific knowledge. Objections that this statement may raise can be refuted by the fact that philosophy was developed as an art or a skill (technique) of appropriation of fragmentary discourse, having the form of self-care already in ancient polis. As we see, these reflections have brought us closer to the attitude that Foucault held in the early 1980s, when he tried to create the subject from the conditions of its existence and a diary, a letter and other forms of self-writing represented different signs of the subjectivization of discourse.
28 Tomasz Dobrogoszcz University of Łódź
Semiotic interpellation: the significance of Lacanian points de capiton in Ian McEwan’s novels
The thought of Jacques Lacan, which emphasises the linguistic nature of the unconscious, overturns de Saussurean conception of sign, giving primacy to the signifier over the signified. The French psychoanalyst repeatedly asserts the immense gravity of the signifier’s function in the construction of the subject of the unconscious, professing, for instance, that “the unconscious is the fact that the man is inhabited by the signifier.” But even though Lacan declares that any signification is based on signifier-to-signifier correlations, and that the access to the signified becomes deferred by the mediation of the continuous chain of signifiers, he believes that this slippage process is not endless and that the ‘floating’ signifiers are, as it were, ‘tied’ to signifieds at certain crucial points. He labels them points de capiton, which is usually translated as ‘quilting points’, or, more literally, following their reference to upholstery, as ‘button ties’. In this presentation, I endeavour to demonstrate how Lacan’s notion of points de capiton might prove an effective tool for literary analysis, using examples of three novels by Ian McEwan, The Comfort of Strangers, Black Dogs and Atonement. In McEwan’s novels the ‘quilting points’ can appear in various guises: as an impressionable character, a formative event, or even a momentous word. Still, each time their function is to initiate a specific signification process, which results in structuring the particular symbolic universe for the protagonist in question. Thus, in my view, a close examination of the novels proves that those singular points “interpellate individuals into subjects”, quite strictly semiotically, and quite strictly on the unconscious level.
29 Olimpia Dragouni University of Warsaw
Semantics of appropriation: Balkan sign wars
At the core of the proposed paper lies the assumption that the notion of appropriation and the phenomenon of appropriation wars – no matter if factual or imaginary – is central for building cultural discourse of the Balkans. The Balkans – a highly imagined and mentally constructed category in itself – serve here as a powerful explanatory microcosm being possibly a synecdoche for wider culture-building activities and patterns that people use. Since human cultures are constant creations and negotiations of imaginary boundaries between “us” and “others”, the culture is seen in comparison to ideology and the symbolic power of its manifestations: the signs. Considering the palimpsest cultural history of the Balkans (often considered to be mixed or tangled due to oversimplifications), any conflict can be read as a result of discourse differences based on variously formed codes of culture, education, ideology, mentality, etc. In the process of categorization of reality, those widely understood signs have often been subject to appropriation by two or more national cultures. Usually, the appropriation is, at least initially, of a symbolic nature as it happens by means of language, aiming to prove the possessiveness of one cultural entity over another (or: all the others). The proposed paper would use vast exemplification of appropriation sign wars in the Balkans. Beginning with e.g. the Greco-Turkish conflict over the origin of each other’s cuisine; through South-Slavic quarrels over popular songs (including the figure of Goran Bregović); the nearly purely linguistic, semantic disagreement with grave political consequences, like the Greco- Macedonian debate over the name which led to economic embargo, and the latter country’s inability to join international structures; the highly symbolic project of Skopje 2014, which is a costly revamp of the capital city that can be read as Macedonian participation in appropriation war against Albanians and Greeks; and up to the most grim example of Yugoslav wars of the 1990s and the local Albanian-related military conflicts of early 2000s. But the multilayered existence of signs in the texts of culture reveals the shape of historical imagination which has often become a source and justification for actual politics and policies. The paper would aim at providing exemplifications, and subsequently, generalizations on the subject to attempt at answering the question: are the appropriation wars – so immanent for the Balkans – also vital and necessary for further cultural survival.
30 Michaela Fiserova Charles University in Prague Metropolitan University in Prague
Semiotics of signature: Author, style, recognition
In my paper, I intend to focus on semiotics of signature. In our cultural sphere, signature functions as a civil sign: it is a personal graphical representation of every citizen. Moreover, we are used to taking signature for our legal delegate: it ratificates originality of our contracts, books, letters, bank cheques. This metaphysical belief in representative power of signatures goes across various domains of argumentation, from forensic examination that is considered as scientifically legitimate, to graphology that is actually taken for pseudoscientific. Is there a semiotic answer to the question, why graphology was actually pushed to the domain of pseudo-sciences, while forensic document examination remains scientifically "in"? Should this question be answered in terms of Peirce's semiotics? Should it be answered in Eco's way of semiotic thinking? According to Charles S. Peirce, both disciplines are equally metaphysical, because they are based on our phaneroscopic approach of signs. From the point of view of Peirce's semiotics, signature as a sign represents writer's personal qualities, which are taken for the Immediate Object, and which remain metaphysically determined by the Dynamic Object itself. Contrary to Peirce, late Umberto Eco considers the possibility of recognition as given in a discursive way: we can recognize a signature as authentic or as false only because of limits of reasonable interpretation set by current discourse. Graphology and forensic analysis are not ruled by the same mode of interpretation, because they are shaped by two different discourses: while graphology compares handwritten documents to the psychological profile of writers, forensic analysis compares the "style" of a signature to the "style" of another signature. I claim that the a priori of legitimate interpretations is not ahistorical in Immanuel Kant's way (as presented by Peirce), but historical in Michel Foucault's way (as presented by Eco). The actual legal discourse transform signatures from a metaphysical (universally truthful) representation of the writer's "self" to a discursive (relatively truthful) representation of the writer's "style". Finally, this shift in legitimation explains why contemporary legislation rely more on forensic document examination, which is trying to compare the graphical "style" of written documents, rather than on graphology, which is trying to reveal the essential inner qualities of the writer's "self". The signature became a "stylish trace" that is supposed to be shaped more by discursive strategy of author's self-construction than by metaphysics of author's authentic self.
31 Krzysztof Gajewski Polish Academy of Sciences
Video lifestreaming practices in the light of Umberto Eco's semiology of everyday life
A notion of lifestreaming was coined in the 90s by Eric Freeman and David Gelernter. This phenomenon consists of documenting one's own life with help of all possible testimonies such as a diary, blog, photos, videos and every other textual, graphical, or acoustic message one can produce. This idea got a new dimension after proliferation new media such as Internet and pocket video cameras held in hand, integrated into a mobile phone, a laptop, a tablet, attached to a helmet, to a car windscreen, or to a flying drone. In my presentation I would like to analyze a phenomenon of video lifestreaming with methodology inspired by Umberto Eco's semiology of everyday life. This term can be perceived as a Polish contribution to studies on Umberto Eco's thought. The expression was employed by translators of Eco's essays, Piotr Salwa and Joanna Ugniewska. They collected Eco's texts from time span of 40 years and published them in a book with such a title. The common perspective of these texts was a concentration on phenomena from mass culture and everyday life, and applying to it a methodology of semiology. One of the most popular techniques of shooing this kind of video, first person video, become a format so common as it has never been before. Another popular of video lifestreming form is self- shooting, i.e. an actor is a cameraman in the same time, a kind of video version of a popular “selfie” photo. I will examine genealogy of these kinds of shoot in movie history, both as a shooting technique (Werner Herzog's “Grizzly Man”) and a narrative topic (Kathryn Bigelow's “Strange Days”, Omar Naim's “The Final Cut”). In an essay “Towards a Semiological Guerilla Warfare” (1967) Umberto Eco reconsiders a McLuhan concept “Medium is the Message”. Eco remarks that McLuhan forgot about a Recipient who decodes a Message with its own Code. Consequently Eco proposes an idea of Semiological Guerilla, intervening on the last stage of information flow, next to a Recipient, instead of controlling a Source of information. I'll show both emancipating and oppressive potential of a personal video lifestreaming and try to answer a question, if a personal video lifestreaming can serve as an arm in a modern Semiological Guerilla warfare.
32 Justyna Galant Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin
The past, the present and the future. Signifying meaning in time in News from Nowhere and After London
Richard Jefferies's post-apocalyptic After London and William Morris's News from Nowhere share a vision of man in the state of nature. Both imagining the future from the perspective of the 19th century, they construct worlds without industry or overpopulation, contriving two new beginnings for mankind. Morris's text offers a vision of England dominated by nature in communion with humanity appreciative of its bounty. Jefferies' s universe depicts the British Isles as a space almost fully afforested where degraded humanity struggles for survival. In both texts the past is largely forgotten, in the first case due to the recognition of the superiority of the present and in the second as a result of near-extinction of humanity and its descent into barbarism. As the two societies re-define their relationships with the spaces they inhabit, their limited knowledge of history necessitates also a re-construction of their self-perception in time. Consequently, in both works the estranged image of the past and of the very concept of time reflect the transformations of the, respectively, utopian and dystopian spaces and their inhabitants' process of self-definition. As a result, the past, the present and the future come across as dynamic elements of the setting subject to re-semiotisation whose meanings are negatively or positively connotated with respect to the spatio-ideological construction of both textual universes.
33 Francesco Galofaro Politecnico di Milano, Centro Universitario Bolognese di Etnosemiotica (CUBE)
Presuppositional verbs and Kripke's semantics
Eco and Violi (1987) proposed a formal notation for the analysis of presuppositions. They locate them in a reference system made of both temporal coordinates (t) and possible words (w). For example, the analysis of “to accuse” is: a) [BAD (Ow0)] . S1w0t0 SAY S2 (S3w0t-1 CAUSE (Ow0t-1))
S and O represents the Subject and the Object of the action in terms of Greimas's actantial functions – Greimas & Courtés (1979). Thus, a first subject says to a second subject that a third subject caused something bad (O) in the past of their world. The square brackets frame an information that the presupposition forces us to accept: that O is something “bad” (presuppositional power). Our purpose is to represent Eco-Violi analyses such as (a) in terms of Kripke's models – cf. Palladino, D. & C. (2007). Let's pose the propositional equivalence: p = S3w0t-1 CAUSE (Ow0t-1) q = BAD (Ow0)
We represent the situation this way:
The circle (2) represents S1's actual world, in which s/he says to S2 that, in their past, S3 caused O. Depending wether S3 really caused O or not we deal with two possible past words (1) and (0). Nevertheless, the meaning of the verb “to accuse” forces us to accept that O is bad in every possible world. Then, in (2) is valid the formula: b) []q & <>p where [] indicates the necessity, i.e. the presence of q in every possible past world ; <> represents the possibility, i.e. the presence of p in (at least) one past possible world.
When applied to Eco-Violi symbolic language, Kripke's semantics causes the collapse of the notions of “time” and “possible world”, providing a unique spatio-temporal Kripke's structure for the analysis of the simplest presuppositions. It is also possible to analyse complex predicates in terms of connections between their graphs. Further research questions concerns the reason why Kripke (2009) did not suggest the possibility of analysing
34 presupposition in terms of his semantics, and the link between narrative structures and presuppositions, given the strict link between Eco-Violi's notation and Greimas' actantial theory.
References
Eco, U. and Violi, P. 1987. Instructional semantics for presuppositions. Semiotica 64 (1-2):1-40. Greimas, A.J. and Courtés, J. 1979. Sémiotique. Dictionnaire raisonné de la théorie du langage. Paris: Hachette. Kripke, S. 2009. Presupposition and Anaphora: Remarks on the Formulation of the Projection Problem. Linguistic Inquiry 40(3): 367-386. Palladino, D. and Palladino, C. 2007. Logiche non classiche. Roma: Carocci.
35 Christophe Geudens Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
Semiotics at Leuven University anno 1627. Sign and Word in Laurentius Ghiffene’s Prodidagmata ad logicam Aristotelis.
Laurentius Ghiffene (ca. 1600-1637) belongs to the last generation of great Aristotelian scholastics who taught at the Arts Faculty of the Old University of Leuven (Belgium) before the breakthrough of Cartesianism ca. 1650. In 1627, Ghiffene, known for his ‘great subtlety of genius and sharpness of judgment’ as one of his biographers tells us, published the Prodidagmata ad logicam Aristotelis, a school manual to be used by the young students of the pedagogy ‘The Lily’, one of the four boardinghouses that constituted the old Louvain Arts Faculty. The manual proved a great success, with reprints in 1628 and even posthumously in 1641, but despite its important place in the then Louvain Arts curriculum, it has escaped scholarly notice up until now. Our discussion will center upon his ‘tractatus de signis’ (treatise on signs), one of the four treatises the Prodidagmata compromises, with a particular emphasis on his opinion of the essence of sign as well as its implications for the relation conceived between signs and words, and, ultimately, for the process of communication. It will be shown that Ghiffene clearly positions himself in the tradition of the Conimbricenses (1605), a commentary written by the Portuguese scholars of the university of Coimbra, but that he formulated a somewhat different and more ambitious answer to the question of the nucleus of signs. It will become clear how Ghiffene, through a particular emphasis on the notion of ‘aptitude’ (in the sense of ‘potentia remota’, as opposed to ‘potentia proxima’), tried to ascribe a sign status to every object and utterance, even to the degree that the dichotomy between a significative and non-significative word, a framework untouched throughout the history of medieval semiotics, was nearly put aside. In conclusion, we will demonstrate that Ghiffene, in his eager search for an all- embracing sign theory, in fact loses sight on the core of the sign process, viz. the transfer of knowledge it enables, and ultimately fails in accounting for its communicative essence.
36 Maja Gwóźdź Jagiellonian University
A proverb turned on itself: a metasemiotic enquiry
The paper aims to analyse cross-cultural examples of metaproverbs, i.e. proverbs about proverbs, from a semiotic and paremiological point of view. The semiotic features of proverbs have already been thoroughly studied by such distinguished paremiologists as Grigorii L'vovich Permiakov and Peter Grzybek (cf. the brief discussion on proverbs as symbols in Honeck 123), therefore this particular area of investigation is not entirely new and the hypothesis that paremias do have an inherent semiotic status does not seem controversial. In accordance with Grzybek’s approach to semiotic study of adages, in this paper proverbs are regarded as ‘cultural unit[s] communicated to us by means of words’ (Eco’s term for aspects which cannot be experienced, 66). However, the metalevel of semiotic study of paremias, viz. the analysis of metaproverbs, hereby defined as proverbs proper marked by an explicit self-reflective and self-reflexive feature (in this paper I agree with Dundes’ explanation of metafolklore; for a slightly different view consult Adéèkó 34), generates a plethora of complexities. The metasemiotic part of this study is carried out in the Peircean sense, i.e. ‘a sign can be explained only through another sign’ (paraphrased in Eco 61). First and foremost, another theoretical assumption needs to be made, viz. that such metaproverbs are semiotic elements embedded in a matrix semiotic structure. The above premiss is further elaborated upon by means of turning to the sociocultural dimension of the study, i.e. analysing metaproverbs in terms of particularly distinct signs as social forces (the concept based on Eco 65). For instance, Honeck observes that ‘[t]he very act of saying the proverb [Wise men make proverbs and fools repeat them] puts one in the fool category, if only momentarily’ (181). To my mind, this remark is of great semiotic importance since it may be used to prove the pivotal hypothesis of the present study, viz. that the deployment of metaproverbs in discourse is always a type of self- reflection (on part of the speaker/writer and only up to a certain point) performed by means of making a reference to a semiotic element turned on itself. Thus, in the vein of communication theory, a person who chooses to employ a metaproverb is, consciously or not, making an explicit reference to himself/herself. By analysing genuine instances of metaproverbs, I attempt to demonstrate that the semiotic status of the metaproverb is more intricate than that of a proverb, which is ‘the most self-aware vehicle of semiotic intentions’ (Adéèkó 35).
References
Adéèkó, A. 1998. The Proverb Is the Horse of Words: Figuration and Consciousness in Nativist Tropes. In Proverbs, Textuality, and Nativism in African Literature. Gainesville, FL: UP of Florida, 28-49. Dundes, A. 2015. Metafolklore and Oral Literary Criticism. Monist 50 (1966): 505-516. JSTOR. Web. 21 Feb. Eco, U. 1976. A Theory of Semiotics. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Grzybek, P. 1994. Foundations of Semiotic Proverb Study. In Wise Words: Essays on the Proverb. Ed. Wolfgang Mieder. New York: Garland Publishing, 31-71. Honeck, R. P. 1997. A Proverb in Mind: The Cognitive Science of Proverbial Wit and Wisdom. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
37 Piotr Jakubowski Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw
Cultural factors of narrative coherence
My paper is based on a famous Umberto Eco’s dictum that text is a “lazy mechanism […] based on [reader’s] assumptions”. My point is that those assumptions depend most of all on culture, that is shared convictions on possible human goals or motivation as well as possible cause-and-effect relations. Hence, through every omission or ellipse the author activates readers’ cultural knowledge – their „vision of world, how it works”. What is obvious is cultural, and every ‘implied reader’ (Eco’s intentio lectoris) is a cultural one – that is why he/she can grasp a narrative coherence even without full textual information. However, every stymie in this process can arise either from deliberate author’s operations (by delivering equivocal, unclear, ambiguous narrative information), or from referring to different assumptions (non-shared by the actual, empirical reader of this text). So the very process of reading can be, in some cases, treated as an example of intercultural communication, in other – more usually – as a form of cultural autocommunication (by reffering to, or questioning, some common presumptions and convictions). Cultural theory in literary studies arouse the question of ‘dominant discourses’ hidden in every text and governing its plane of utterance (manifestation), but I would rather refer to more basic, and essentially semiotic, level – the level where Eco’s ‘naive reader’ operates and tries to answer two questions that constitute narrative coherence – what happened and why? – having nothing but the text itself and his/her cultural background.
38 Małgorzata Jankowska Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań
Transformations of a religious symbol and the problem of the cultural autocommunication
Words, signs, symbols and texts function as means of conveying various cultural meanings. Every culture and every semiosphere (understood as a kind of space outside of which the processes of semiosis are no longer possible) has got its own collection of characteristic and original signs, texts and symbols among which the most important are religious symbols and canonical texts. They are the tools of collective memory and cultural identity. Modern cultures do not exist in isolation but they perpetually meet and communicate with each other. Various messages, signs and symbols get across the borderlines of the semiospheres. In that context it is crucial for every culture to care for its own roots. The processes of autocommunication, such as a creative translation of a text (from one semiotic system into the other), the transformation of a religious symbol or the use of a canonical text as a code for a new message help a given culture to preserve its basic ideas in the centre of the cultural universe of meanings. Yuri Lotman describes two basic channels of communication: the classical one and the model of autocommunication. In the “I-s/he” channel the “I” is the subject of the communication, the possessor of the information, while the “s/he” is the object, the addressee. In that system information is transferred in space. In the “I-I” channel the information is transferred in time. In the first system the framing elements are variables (addresser could be replaced by addressee), while the code and the message remain the same. In the autocommunication system the information-carrying medium remains the same while the information is reformulated and gains some new meanings. It is easy to notice that the processes of autocommunication play a very important cultural role. They serve not only as a tool of collective memory but as a mechanism of enriching the net of cultural meanings. Autocommunication becomes also a condition of the consolidation of culture and tradition as well as a means of creating and sending new messages via the channel “I–s/he” to other cultures. The mechanisms of autocommunication make it possible to filter messages from the outside and assimilate those that are considered worthy of absorption. I would like to use some elements of Yuri Lotman’s semiotics of culture (such as the models of communication, the idea of a religious symbol, the mechanism of the creative translation) to analyze the problems of cultural change, cultural (auto)communication and cultural tradition. The unorthodox usage of various religious symbols will be treated as an example.
39 Borys Jastrzębski University of Warsaw
Logical interpretation of numbers in Church’s slingshot argument
In his 1958 book Introduction to mathematical logic Alonzo Church had introduced an argument for Fregean vision of reference, dubbed the slingshot for its efficient simplicity. Most of further refutations were based on limiting the scope of its effectivity, the most spectacular of which would probably be Barwise and Perry's situational semantics. My aim, on the other hand, is to address the argument's internal structure and demonstrate its inherent inconsistency. That would prove it wrong in all cases, not for just several chosen theories. My criticism focuses on the problem of logical interpretation of numbers in Church's sentences. I show that it is an underlying assumption of his slingshot to accept a very specific interpretation of numbers as logical constants. Further on I depict that this view cannot be held for its paradoxical consequences for the logical structure of the sentences. Finally, I apply alternative interpretations, showing that in spite of their consistency, neither could work for all steps of the argument and thus replace the impossible logical-constant view.
40 Katarzyna Kaczmarczyk University of Warsaw
Body, narrative and ‘the Gestalt of vitality’: a semiotic inquiry into proto-narrative structures of infant communication
Does one need to speak a language to tell a story? Although many researchers still concern themselves with verbal narratives, there is a great deal of those, who – when asked the question – answer ‘No’. One of them is Antonio Damasio, who connects rudimentary forms of narrative with the emergence of consciousness, or Mark Turner who considers narrative a force that gave rise to language itself. The arguments those scholars developed in the 1990s gain additional grounding in light of the research into proto-narrative structures occurring in the joint vocalizations of parents and infants as young as 6-8 weeks carried out by Daniel Stern, Colwyn Trevarthen, Maya Gratier, Lynne Murray and others. There is a great semiotic potential in the research of infant communication. It gives additional force to questions concerning the nature of intentionality, embodiedness and prelinquistic communication. The topic has been already pursued by Paul Cobley, who showed how infant communication can be understood in terms of Peircian semiotics. The aim of the article is to propose a different type of semiotic analysis of infant proto- narratives. I would like to analyse them with the use of tools of tensive semiotics developed by Algirdas Greimas, Jacques Fontanille and Claude Zilberberg. Tensive semiotic provides the tools for describing communication in terms of intensity and extent and of understanding the nature of infant representations semantically. This theory may serve as a bridge between developmental psychology, affect studies and semiotics and as such it deserves further inquiry.
41 Michal Karľa Charles University in Prague
Between metaphysics and logic: Peirce`s early theory of representation
The aim of the proposed paper is to explain the origins of Peirce`s semiotics formulated in his 1865-6 Harvard and Lowell Lectures in the framework of his metaphysical and logical thought of the time. My exposition follows the line of Peirce`s understanding of metaphysics as "the philosophy of primal truths" (W1: 59) and the proposal of "logical treatment of metaphysics" (W1: 63). Peirce`s unpsychological treatment of logic can be seen as the actual fulfillment of his conception of metaphysics on the one hand, and on the other hand this view of logic is grounded in semiotic conceived as the "general science of representations" (W1: 303). Peirce`s goal in this set of investigations is to work out the general theory of inference, i.e. both analytic, or explicative, and synthetic, or ampliative, reasoning. He aims to show that all kinds of inference are at the same time generically united and specifically differentiated. To achieve this goal, he employs the notion of "symbolization" or semiotic conception of inference, according to which every argument consists in making a conclusion-symbol (an interpretant) out of the premisses-symbol, and there are exactly three ways how this can be done, i.e. deduction, hypothesis, and induction, further distinguished by the kind of information they provide. Peirce`s early semiotic is thus seen to give support to the logical theory, but such logic is in turn conceived as a method of metaphysics (W1: 302). In my paper I will concentrate on the arguments Peirce uses in order to prove this general scheme to be valid either explicitly, or by way of their reconstruction in the cases where Peirce does not offer a full account of them. In addition to the proofs of symbolization which make the core of Peirce`s early semiotic theory, I will examine the distinction between logical and facultative conceivability, the theory of the three worlds in connection with three references of the symbol (representation, form, thing), possibility of materially indifferent conception of the logical inquiry and, most importantly, Peirce`s view of the "transcendental" and "a priori". By such investigation I aim to show under what conditions, generally, Peirce`s theory can be granted. I will argue that the early account of semiotics is self-sufficient and complete theory of representation, even when the fundamentals of Peirce`s later view (e.g. the categories, final opinion, pragmatic conception of meaning) are absent.
42 Marta Komsta Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin
In “that happy-resting place of peace and quiet content:” spatial semiotics in late Victorian utopias
“There is no security, but in order; no power, but in union; no agreement, but in uniformity; no perpetuity, but in truth; no system, but in law.” Etymonia
The paper aims to discuss two late Victorian narratives, Etymonia (published by Samuel Tinsley in 1875) and Joseph Carne-Ross’s Quintura: Its Singular People and Remarkable Customs (1886), whose presented worlds constitute spatial models established on striving towards perfection by means of rationality, utilitarianism and social engineering. I argue that the utopian realms of Etymonia and Quintura are based on the specific, state-controlled appropriation of space; the two texts, however, offer a strikingly different development of the seemingly similar assumptions. In Etymonia, organized with “a mathematical precision” by a geometrician, the social order is closely connected with the spatial configuration of the country. The landscape where “everything [is] being measured by an exact uniform standard” reflects the benevolent relationship between the citizens of the utopian state and the natural world, which becomes the cornerstone of the blissful existence in Tinsley’s utopia. In contrast, the “hyper-civilization” of Quintura makes an extensive use of spatial compartmentalization and technological surveillance, which reflects its premises of general uniformity and radical rationalism. The enclosed space of such sites as the Sanitarium or the Nursery comes to signify the politics of the utopian state, where perfection is achieved only through the faculty of reason. Thus, the emerging semiotic binaries – technology/nature, open space/closed space – reveal the central tension between the utopian hope for a better future and its spatial implementation.
43 Monika Kopytowska University of Łódź, ENIEDA Network
Distance dynamics and the semiotics of television news
The paper focuses on the semiotics of television news, understood as both process and product, and makes a claim that journalistic “work on distance” and the resulting impression of the “real presence” (Eco 1998), contingent on the semiotic properties of a given medium, are central to the potential of television news discourse to affect cognitive-affective attitudes of theaudience. Packaging messages from different times and places, combining cognitive stimuli that would not otherwise be found together, journalists discursively reduce various dimensions of distance (viz. spatial distance, temporal distance, epistemic distance, axiological distance and emotional distance) in order to make the reality the (re)construct and (re)present more “real”, relevant and emotionally-engaging for the viewers. It is assumed that individuals understand the news narrative, as is the case with other narratives, by perceiving the events described from the vantage point of the “deictic centre” (DC), containing information about where and when events occur in the world and who participates in these events (cf. Duchan, Bruder and Hewitt 1995). The reader’s construction and modification of the DC is important for understanding a narrative, as claimed by Rapaport and Shapiro (1995). Readers have the impression of experiencing the fictional world directly, because they adopt the deictic centre as their own (cf. Zubin and Hewitt 1995: 131). The claim made here is that this process will be even more important in the case of news narratives, meant to create a common spatiotemporal, epistemic, emotional and axiological sphere of shared experience by ‘proximizing’ various elements of the world presented to the audience. A new approach towards news discourse is thus proposed here, combining critical discourse analytic and Discourse Space Theory perspectives with the insights from social semiotics, Cognitive Linguistics, and various theoretical approaches to mediatization (Kopytowska 2014, 2015). As claimed in the literature on media and social cognition “[a] central feature of mediated communication is that it alters the spatial and temporal relationships between people, between a person and a stimulus, and between the elements of complex stimuli” (Reeves et al. 1982: 297), which enables “transcendence of time and space”. The paper demonstrates that this is possible by proximizing various elements from the past (recency), presence (currency) and future (imminence), not only temporally, but also spatially, axiologically, and epistemically. Such a process of reducing the distance is discussed under the term proximization, originating in Chilton’s Discourse Space Theory (2004, 2005, 2010), where it is described in terms of construal operations within discourse space relative to a deictic center, along the axes of time, space and modality, and in Cap’s STA model (2008, 2010, 2013). The data from the CNN and NBC news coverage of Africa (transcripts and videos) will be used to demonstrate how news makers proximize selected aspects of reality through key words combined in a specific form (grammatical structures, macrostructures) as well as key images (camera shots and editing techniques) and how, in this process, they make use of the semiotic potential of the televisual medium.
44 Sergei Kruk Riga Stradins University
Concepts of the sign in Latvian scholarly thought
This paper reveals two concepts of sign as they are described by Latvian philosophers, art scholars and linguists. Common to both concepts is exclusion of semiosis. Art scholars and philosophers hold that the sign enables individual contemplation and meditation, the intrinsically private meaning of signs unfolds in the introspective process. Two postulates make the social agreement on meaning impossible: 1) a sign has a private meaning; 2) this meaning is a function of introspection and as such it cannot be communicated to others. Conception of the verbal sign deduced from the scholarly writings of linguists enables the social communication but these linguists fall in another extreme. For them the sign is natural, objective, and normative. They contend that the language is a strong, transparent and coherent code. Meaning is reduced to denotation, reference and predication ignoring the non-referential functions of language. Following Herder, some linguists and educators believe that language carries an imprint of the community and therefore for an individual a soliloquy is a sufficient mode of social communication. The paper traces the intellectual origins of these concepts and discusses their implications for social communication, education and art critique.
45 Svetlana Kurteš ENIEDA Network
Rose Clark ENIEDA Network
Teaching, learning and assessment across semiotic resources and multimodal frameworks: a possible post-modern approach
Twenty-first century higher education has seen a major paradigmatic shift from knowledge- based to participatory and competence-based instruction and assessment. This was additionally prompted by the graduate labour market requirements, involving a range of general and transferable skills and intercultural awareness alongside subject-specific expertise. The presentation discusses the pedagogical context of the construction and representation of knowledge, focusing on its multimodal semiotic manifestations and taking, in particular, the UK higher education environment as an example. Drawing from the relevant literature in the field (e.g. Eco 1986; Goffman 1981; Kress & Van Leeuwen 2001; Pauwels 2005, etc), we will present and briefly discuss possible potentialities of an instructional and assessment model that enables the students not only to develop expert knowledge and appropriate skills, but also to express themselves through a range of semiotic resources and multimodal frameworks that are in harmony with their individuality, expressivity and learning style. The model in question was implemented during the delivery and assessment of a final year undergraduate unit designed for international students attending a UK-based university. The students were encouraged to reflect on their own identity, explore it, define and (re)locate it interculturally and, finally, express themselves using a range of semiotic resources and multimodal frameworks.
References
Eco, U. 1986. Semiotics and the philosophy of language. Bloomington & Indianapolis: Indiana University Press. Goffman, E. 1981. Forms of talk. Philadelphia: University of Philadelphia Press. Kress, G. and T. Van Leeuwen. 2001. Multimodal discourse: the modes & media of contemporary communication. London: Arnold. Pauwels, L. 2005. Websites as visual and multimodal cultural expressions: opportunities and issues of online hybrid media research. Media, Culture & Society 27(4): 604-613.
46 Martina Labaiova Charles University in Prague
The semiotics of silence in business communication
‘The semiotics of silence in business communication’ investigates the significance of silence through an interdisciplinary approach. This work is based on philosophical views of silence further extended into the contemporary business environment. Silence in business communication is analysed as a phenomenon of conversational analysis, social psychology and general sociolinguistics both from philosophical and semiotic perspectives. This work presents an in-depth analysis of how silence is used and applied in the day-to-day work of employees in a large multinational company. Findings enable us to understand the patterns of silence usage and interpret them in a cross-functional model. The model is based on variables such as the duration, frequency, usage of silence in the discourse and speakers’ background. This allows for a wider range of results taking intercultural differences, conversational routines, immediate communication and facilitative usage of silence into account. Main hypothesis of this work is that silence contributes to conversations and is as equally important element of conversations as actual speech. This research project also aims at formulating a hypothesis that silence can be used as a powerful strategy in business negotiations.
47 Katarzyna Lisowska University of Wrocław
The semiotics of metaphors in Polish gender studies discourse: the example of literary studies
The aim of the paper is to situate in the perspective of the semiotics the metaphors applied in Polish gender studies discourse in the studies of literature. The metaphors activate particular semiotic strategies which play a significant role in building argumentation in a given text. Gender studies discourse is defined as the compilation of several current of the contemporary humanities which share a similar theoretical background, that is: gender criticism, queer theory, gay and lesbian studies and men’s studies. The analysis will focus on their representations in literary studies. The literary studies articles will be analysed from the perspective of the poetics and treated as a representative of the academic discourse. In the description of the metaphors the emphasis will be placed on such features as: the theoretical context evoked by the expressions, their stylistic form and the semiotic processes activated by them. As a consequence, the metaphors will be considered as the key elements of the ideas expressed by a particular text. This is enabled by the special functions which the metaphors play, i.e. the cognitive, pragmatic, persuasive and aesthetic role. These functions will be discussed too. These issues will be exemplified by the most popular expressions employed in gender studies discourse in Polish literary studies, e.g. the metaphor of the closet, the metaphors of the theatre and performativity, the metaphor of the movement. What is more, the differences between the semiotics of particular metaphors in different trends of gender studies will be analyzed too. The analysis will focus on the texts of the most influential representatives of the Polish gender studies discourse. Therefore, the paper will refer to the studies of e.g. I. Iwasiów (Rewindykacje: kobieta czytająca dzisiaj [Revindications: woman reading today] Kraków 2002), I. Filipiak (Obszary odmienności. Rzecz o Marii Komornickiej [The areas of the otherness. On Maria Komornicka], Gdańsk 2006], Tomasz Kaliściak, (Katastrofy odmieńców [The catastrophers of the queers], Katowice 2011), B. Warkocki Homo niewiadomo. Polska proza wobec odmienności [The queer: Polish Prose Toward the Otherness], Warszawa 2007) and M. Skucha (ładni chłopcy i szalone. Męskość i kobiecość w późnym pisarstwie Józefa Ignacego Kraszewskiego [Pretty boys and mad girls. Masculinity and femininity in the late writings of Józef Ignacy Kraszewski], Kraków 2014). However, foreign studies (e.g. E. Kosofksy Sedgwick and J. Bristow) will be recalled to as well in order to provide broader contexts for the analyzed phenomena.
48 Holly Maggiore University of Georgia
Becoming the ‘Other’: separation and understanding in Aristophanes’ Clouds
In Aristophanes’ Clouds the view from above is used to define ‘otherness’ between Strepsiades and Socrates’ school. The view from above is necessary to gain understanding from an outside perspective with separation being key component for success. Strepsiades must separate himself, physically and mentally, from his home to acquire an outside view, engage fully with the students, and acquire the needed knowledge to get himself out of debt. But the problem arises to what degree does he need to be separated? Too much separation does not allow him to understand; too little imbeds him too much in the life of the observed. Though Clouds is a comedy and Strepsiades is expected to fail, it’s interesting to see how Aristophanes sets up Strepsiades’ potential success to obtain the right amount of separation. When Strepsiades journeys to Socrates’ school to learn the weaker and stronger arguments, he is not able to separate himself from his home and engage in the new learning. Strepsiades only applies his ‘native’ understanding to his ‘foreign’ experiences. He is unable to use the knowledge he has gained to transform his situation. Socrates who literally incorporates the view from above as he hangs in a basket in the air when Strepsiades arrives, refuses to teach Strepsiades anymore. He notices an inability to impart knowledge to an ‘outsider’. Though Strepsiades left his home, he tried to apply what he was learning to his person and for a personal problem – his debt, rather than the world. Strepsiades undergoes all the right experiences to solve his problem, but he is unable to transform. He can become a student, but he cannot change his nature to think like one. Strepsiades gains a new perspective, but he does not gain a new understanding and this causes him to fail at the end.
49 Jason Nguyen Indiana University Bloomington
Signifying themselves: Networked performativities and the semiotics of Vietnamese group identity
Anthropologist Milton Singer noted in “Signs of the Self” that Charles Peirce understood that self and identity were not coterminous with the human ‘box of flesh and blood.’ Rather, because the understanding of self vis-à-vis group and community identity was semiotically and socially constructed, the analytical task was to ‘[discover] the bonds of feeling that hold people together or tear them apart’ (1980, 500). Towards that end, I propose that certain significations within the context of group identity be analyzed as having the network itself as an object, and that their expressive production be understood as the enactment of what I call “network performativities.” More precisely, certain communicative behaviors within groups function as, in Peircian terminology, “dicent indexical” signs that have group interactions (sinsigns) or the idea of the group (legisigns) as their object. Furthermore, borrowing the concept of performativity from its usage by Judith Butler, who applied it to discursive practices that reproduced normative identities, I treat the usage of group-centric signifying practices as enactments of networks of human relationships. As a case study, I examine culturally-significant expressive behaviors amongst groups of Vietnamese-identifying people and show how my application of a Peircian theory of identity (1) reveals the importance of signs otherwise overlooked as connected to Vietnamese self- identification and (2) refactors our understanding of certain well-documented signifying behaviors--such as the consumption and production of popular music--relative to a “sense” of Vietnamese-ness. In the first case, I examine how Vietnamese American youth coordinate interconnected “unions” of Vietnamese student associations (UVSAs) where regional affiliations (e.g. UVSA Midwest) appear to be primary referents. Much of their social labor involves the production of group identities based in their regions (such as locally-derived chants, i.e. “What coast is the best coast? No coast! Midwest!”), which are apparently unrelated to being Vietnamese, but I argue that by being signs of positionality within the network of Vietnamese students, such expressive acts become an apparatus for network performativity and thus group identity. In the second case, I demonstrate how popular music that seemingly signifies non-Vietnamese origins- -such as Latin American dance music--nonetheless operates more as signs of Vietnamese identity through the elision of indices of socialization with other Vietnamese people with a retrospective symbolic narrative of Vietnamese experience.
References
Singer, Milton. 1980. Signs of the Self: An Exploration in Semiotic Anthropology. American Anthropologist 82(3): 485-507.
50 Katarzyna Ojrzyńska University of Łódź
The semiotics of a disabled body on the stage
The paper focuses on various uses and depictions of disabled bodies on the stage, and on common attitudes to actors with disabilities in theatre. The proposed analysis of the semiotics of a disabled body on the stage sheds light on the stereotypes informing popular social constructs of disability which are still prevalent in contemporary theatre. Taking recourse to the ideas proposed by theatre scholars (Erika Fischer-Lichte), social philosophers (Michel Foucault), and disability studies specialists (Rosemarie Garland-Thomson), the paper investigates the depictions of disability in selected contemporary plays (Peeling by Kaite O’Reilly, Sanctuary by Christian O’Reilly, and Radosław Rychcik’s stage adaptation of Adam Mickiewicz’s Dziady). The aim is to challenge the idea expressed by the Polish actress and disability activist, Anna Dymna, who in 2007 (in)famously stated that an acting school is not a place for disabled students. Contrary to Dymna, I argue that increased visibility of people with disabilities on the stage may in fact serve as a means to neutralize their otherness and, as a consequence, help them become more versatile and, by extension, employable actors. However, this can only be possible if the roles available to actors with disabilities will be more diverse than they are nowadays. Although an actor can be considered as the most complex sign in a theatre performance, actors with disabilities are often reduced to their physical impairment, which frequently becomes the primary feature defining the given character. As a result, disabled actors tend to be given only the roles of characters with similar forms of impairment. Furthermore, their disability is frequently endowed with a negative metaphorical meaning which is deeply rooted in biased social stereotypes. This situation calls for an attempt to de-automatize and alienate theatre semiosis and thus challenge the negative stereotypes which are blocking the way onto the stage for actors with disabilities.
51 Teresa Pac University of Central Oklahoma
The saints and the social and political landscapes in contemporary Poland
This paper is concerned with a close description and semiotic analysis of the images of saints in contemporary Poland, including Saint Mary, Saint Jadwiga, Saint Andrew Bobola, Saint Zygmunt Szczesny Felinski, Saint Joseph the Craftsman, and Saint John Paul II. Because artwork functions within larger cultural systems, this study incorporates saint vitae and records of popular devotional practices of the period in order to demonstrate that each image is a sophisticated structure of overlapping meanings. The paper argues that these images participate in a variety of discourses as they not only bridge Polish and Western European Catholic identities, but also serve as exemplars of Catholic behavior and gender ideals, as well as reinforce the link of contemporary Poland with its Catholic medieval past. Thus, these images obscure the history of non-Catholic religious groups in medieval and contemporary Poland. This exclusively Polish Catholic national narrative also diminishes the historical link between Poland and Russia, reinforcing the existing negative image of Russia and its Orthodox Church among Poles. The study therefore goes beyond traditional iconographic approaches to religious art and the universal function of saints and focuses on the images of saints as part of Polish cultural and political capital that favor the Polish alliance with the West.
52 Roger Phillips University of Aveiro
Drawing on semiotics in class-based materials for undergraduate English classes in Portugal
Given the limitations imposed by increasingly larger class numbers, teachers are often nonetheless disposed towards an approach which is widely referred to as the Communicative Approach (van Ek and Alexander 1980; Brumfit 1984). Moreover, given the diverse nature of the students themselves and the various courses they may be following, together with inappropriateness of some of the course books (for both practical and economic reasons), teachers often find themselves selecting, adapting or producing their own materials. This paper aims to illustrate what can be loosely described as a semiotics-based approach to using texts. The particular focus is on learner preconceptions of meanings in given contexts, with follow-up discussion on denotative and connotative meanings. From the teacher’s perspective this hands-on approach can provide useful insights into how learners interact with texts. Moreover, from an academic point of view research that simultaneously attempts to deal with the interfaces of cognitive, linguistic and semiotic domains can provide valuable information for future materials development.
53 Vít Pokorný Academy of Sciences in Prague
Embodied psychedelic semiosis: on the meaning of expanded states of consciousness for the concept of semiosphere and the emergence of the symbolic mind
As modern individualised persons we live in the world of meanings mediated through the cultural nets of signs, words and artifacts. But, at the same time, and before that we are embodied beings dwelling in earthly webs of life. So, before, beyond and throughout the culturally determined semiosis which requires individualised social interpreters, we are in the world through our conscious bodies that comprise meaning before the formation of a self-conscious subjects. In the present text I would like to suggest that the prereflective and subconscious level of situatedness in the world can be accessed through hallucinatory states. As M. Merleau-Ponty states in his analysis of hallucination, “the hallucination and perception are modalities of one single primordial function, through which we arrange round about us” (Merleu-Ponty, 2002, p. 399) our environment. This „primordial function“ which leads to his concept of intercorporeality, and via biosemiotics to the concept of semiosphere, can be uncovered through psychedelic hallucinations. When analysed, it is possible to acknowledge the four major semiotic aspects of hallucinatory states: liquidity of signs, transformative essence of meaning, extensivity of meaning and the dissolution of a self-conscious subject. In deleuzian terminology, a radical deteritorialisation is being experienced in psychedelic hallucinations. Leaving our teritories, our habitualised cultural umwelts, we are entering „a wild being“, a pre-subjective dimension of semiosphere in these experiences. Instead of the alert, self-centered everyday presence, we first experience our embededness into the life processeses, flowing through our mindbodies as lifelines with which we are evolutionary intertwinned. Thus, the psychedelic states involve a rapture, an experience of a distance between the immediately present lifeworld of a subject and the vast net of semiotic intercorporeality. And only throuhg this distance, the symbolic can start to emerge, forming more and more distant levels of communication.
References
Merleau-Ponty, M. 2002. Phenomenology of Perception (translated by Smith, C.). London: Routledge. Lotman, J. 2005. On the Semiosphere (translated by Clark, W.). Sign System Studies 33(1): 205- 229. Kristeva, J., Evans, M., N. 1994. On Yuri Lotman. PMLA 109(3): 375-376. Witzany, G., 2005. From Biosphere to Semiosphere to Social Lifeworlds: Biology as an understanding Social Science. TripleC I(I): 51 -74. Siewers, A. K. 2014. Re-imagining Nature: Environmental Humanities and Ecosemiotics. Lewisburg: Bucknell University Press. Stjernfeld, F. 2007. Diagrammatology: An Investigation on the Borderlines of Phenomenology, Ontology, and Semiotics. Dordrecht: Springer. Thurtle, P., Mitchell, R. 2012. Semiotic flesh: Information and the human body. University of Washington Press.
54 Mauro Puddu University of Cambridge
Detecting multiple identities through the funerary practices performed in Roman period Sardinia: an archaeological context for the production, circulation, and consumption of material signs
The history of archaeological thought was vigorously enriched by the semiotic turn between the early 80s and late 90s. Despite works of major value for the discipline – Preucel’s Archaeological Semiotics and Gardin and Peebles’ Representation in Archaeology – widely acknowledge the contribution of semiotic studies to the archaeological cause, the interconnection between semiotics and archaeology has slowly faded away since the turn of the new millennium. Notwithstanding this, it is blatant that both archaeology and semiotics have always dealt, within the study of cultures, with the interpretation of signs left in the past, be the action that produced them one second or one century old. Such a similarity of sources and commonality of purposes has brought me to pursue the study of the actions performed by civilizations in the past from an archaeological perspective in semiotic terms. For the purpose of this paper, I aim at showing how a specific set of actions performed in the past, such as funerary practices, are more effectively interpreted in a less obsessive and monolithic form, and how the multiple and fluid identities they convey more effectively disclosed, if treated in semiotic terms. Furthermore, this approach highlights the potential and consistent contribution that archaeology, through its focus on the material traces, offers to some key issues of semiotic studies, such as the dualism between intentional and unintentional production of signs. I will do this drawing on a specific case study of funerary sites from Roman period Sardinia that show evidence of re-use of ancient burials in more recent times, questioning such actions in relation to the material culture employed and to the perception of the past of the territory in which the agents of such actions do operate. With this paper, I will claim that, first, the contribution of semiotics to the archaeological investigation offers a scientifically coherent method to highlight diversity within actions resembling each other and performed through the use of an apparently homogeneous material culture. Second, I will argue that, an archaeological perspective on the production of signs actively contributes to the semiotic investigation of signs, threatening the neat division between aware and unconscious sign production and use, hence shaking the sometimes still neat divide between Peirce’s and Saussure’s theories of sign.
References
Gardin, J.C, and Peebles, C.S. 1992. Representations in archaeology. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Preucel, R. W. 2010. Archaeological semiotics. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
55 Štěpán Pudlák Charles University in Prague
Sign structures of delusions
Delusions are one of the main symptoms of psychotic disorders. However, their definition depends on the subjective understanding of the psychiatrist and thus may significantly vary (Garety & Freeman 1999). International Classification of Diseases (World Health Organization 2004) or the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, vol. V (American Psychiatric Association 2013) provide only general descriptions. The reason is that delusions are connected to the content of the patients’ mental world, and thus always specific. Or is it possible to describe structures of delusions without being too general? Semiotics offers theoretical perspective through which we can analyse mental phenomena as signs. Charles Sanders Peirce introduced taxonomy of signs and their specific aspects in his comprehensive theory of semiotics (Peirce 1932). Using this taxonomy as a methodological framework, we can distinguish sign structures of mental phenomena, their relations, characteristics or interpretations. This presentation aims to outline sign structures of different types of delusions. Delusions may be divided into several topic-related types: erotomanic, grandiose, jealous, somatic etc. (American Psychiatric Association 2013: 90-91). I shall argue that in any of these types, the central theme of the delusion is always connected to the self in a structure of a proposition. Delusionary system of beliefs built around this central proposition is based on inferences that combine this proposition with other (often realistic, perceptory) propositions in a structure of an argument. At the same time, the central proposition itself is not a subject of argumentative falsification. This difference from other beliefs is characteristic for delusions.
References
American Psychiatric Association. 2013. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, (Fifth Edition). Washington, DC, American Psychiatric Association. ISBN 0-89042-062-9. Garety, P. A., and Freeman, D. 1999. Cognitive approaches to delusions: a critical review of theories and evidence. British journal of clinical psychology 38(2): 113-154. Peirce, C. S. 1932. Collected papers, vol. 2. World Health Organization 2004. International statistical classification of diseases and related health problems. World Health Organization.
56 Anastasia Remoundou-Howley Qatar University
Fé ghné eile1 or “The word that we sometimes hear, and struggle to be”: the word, the work, and the question of Irish feminism in Brendan Kennelly’s drama
This essay explores the feminist inflections of Brendan Kennelly’s language in his adaptation of Sophocles’ Antigone, staged at the Peacock Theatre, Dublin in 1984. As a mediator of words, Kennelly merges the concepts of “word” and “work” in a conflict between “word” and “words”, distinguishing them into a discourse cognate with the semiotics of adapting a classic: a game between langue and parole2 (1991: 117). The terms thus, interchangeably, imply the private and the public force of language as talk, conversation, news, rumour, order, promise, lesson, but also their currency as counter-signs for betrayal, deception, even silence in a play whose central hero pairs her “words” with the certainty of “action” unlike any other character in the play. Cognizant of the risks and rewards of rewriting a canonical patriarchal text in a politically charged society, poet, playwright, novelist, critic, and “translator”, Kennelly, pairs the “strange choice” of classical imagery and myth with a preoccupation with Irish identity which dislocates the silenced poetic tropes of his literary predecessors into an authentic feminist debate on sexual politics and difference. In the postcolonial setting of modern day Ireland, Kennelly’s use of the Antigone- metaphor creates an evocative interplay between signs of the familiar and the unfamiliar, the native and the foreign, the present and the past, which confront the authority of convention that classical antiquity holds whilst giving “voice” to the silenced and the feminine as signs of renegotiating identity in the present. By the same token, his version acknowledges the complexity of engaging with the classical reception of mythical female characters by making them “speak” for real women.
1 Phrase by Irish poet Seán Ó Riordáin, meaning “under another aspect” or “to enter the other” arguing that this is the principal aim of poetry. In Éireaball Spideoige. Dublin: Sáirséal agus Dill, 1952. Réamhra [Introduction]. 2 Christopher Murray here refers to the linguistic terms as employed by French theorist Ferdinand de Saussure. Langue means language and describes the social phenomenon of language as a system of signs, while parole means speech and denotes the personal aspect of language as a series of speech acts made by a linguistic subject. See Ferdinand de Saussure, Course in General Linguistics 3rd Edition (1972). Trans. R.Harris. Chicago: Open Court Publishing Company, 1986: 9-10, 15.
57 I want to suggest that Kennelly’s intimations act as speech signs that create continuities, antinomies and resonances emphasizing the experience of women beyond their plight and towards their empowerment as agents of both ethics and politics. His work on Antigone is valued as a radical moment of engagement with a feminist critique of classical tradition preceding even the Anglo-American feminist debate as carried out in Judith Butler’s acclaimed study Antigone’s Claim: Kinship between Life and Death in 2002. Reinterpreting this version opposite seminal theorists and texts from Hegel to Ettinger, I read Kennelly’s call for a new, universal vocabulary “echo[ing] our intimated hopes” for a “different”, pluralist language, where “words” are liberated and “things” are called “by their proper names,” as signs of remapping and understanding new sites of difference.
58 Katarzyna Rogalska Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń
Entrenched linguistic knowledge bias in semiotic systems evolution: data from Polish and Italian agents’ evolects
The evolution of semiotic systems and the linguistic code has been the subject of interest of numerous linguists and computation specialists for at least the last two decades. It is a consequence of the fact that the commonly-held accusation against evolution of language (EoL) studies was overcome – thanks to technological advancements it is possible to recreate the developmental process of a semiotic system, just within a couple of hours using the iterated learning methodology. Initial studies did not involve human subjects and it was not until the Edinburgh group experiments that people could participate in such experiments (Kirby et al. 2008), which can be regarded as the beginning of a new era of EoL studies. The experiment was replicated with the participation of Polish and Italian agents. Interestingly, their evolects (i.e. the experimental “mini-languages” they produce through generations of iterations; Jasiński 2013) allow us to draw different conclusions than those coming from Kirby et al.’s research. Namely, it occurred that despite various bottlenecks applied, the semiotic systems obtained tend to refer to previously-known linguistic data, coming either from the native language of the participants, or from foreign languages. Signal exhibiting such influences, referred to as “trendsetters”, prove to be highly adaptive and successful from the evolutionary viewpoint. Consequently, it may be suggested that iterated learning experiments designed to understand the rules governing the evolution of semiotic systems are strongly biased or even directed by entrenched linguistic knowledge.
References
Cornish, H. 2011. Language Adapts: Exploring the Cultural Dynamics of Iterated Learning. PhD thesis, The University of Edinburgh. Jasiński, A. 2013. Iterated learning of ‘evolects’ and the dynamics of (re)production of natural language resources, in press. Kirby, S. and Hurford, J. 2002. The emergence of linguistic structure: An overview of the Iterated Learning Model. In A. Cangelosi and D. Parisi (eds.) Simulating the Evolution of Language. London: Springer Verlag, 121-148. Kirby, S., Cornish, H. and Smith, K. 2008. Cumulative cultural evolution in the laboratory: An experimental approach to the origins of structure in human language. PNAS 105(31): 10681-10686. Wacewicz, S. 2013. Ewolucja języka – współczesne kontrowersje, in press.
59 Joseph M. Romero University of Mary Washington
Jason P. Matzke University of Mary Washington
Some final words of Stanley Cavell
Between 2 July, 2003, and 1 September, 2004, the distinguished American philosopher, Stanley Cavell, wrote a series of reflections that would become his autobiography, Little Did I Know: Excerpts from Memory (2010). Cavell, who claimed lineal descent as a philosopher from J. L. Austin, spent a career developing a kind of philosophy that denies a split in the sign, between signifier and signified, between the ideas he registers and the voice he uses to articulate them. In view of the theme of SEMIOTICA 2015: SIGN, THOUGHT, WORD, WORK, we propose to examine these concepts as they unfold in what may be his final and most compelling work. As an “ordinary language philosopher,” Cavell resists the notion of a sign as being more than what it ordinarily is—something that directs, that orients, but something also that is signed or authored; even more, Cavell resists the notion that we can see even provisionally the totality of a system of signs. Accordingly, a thought, which he variously styles as an idea, notion, or surmise, is a complex response to the things that happen in our lives, both those anticipated (common) and those that “interrupt” our expectations (which Cavell finds still more common). For Cavell, thoughts are of two sorts: what happens to us whether we wish it or not; and what only happens to us if we allow it to. Words are the common inheritance of the language by which we access our lives, of which we and our thinking lives are composed. They both register our experience of and mark our interventions into this world. Finally, work describes an ordinary event in our lives: as Austin termed it, signs, thoughts and words work when our locutions, framed by appropriate illocutionary intentions, bring about the perlocutionary effects we desire (Austin 1962). What interests Cavell, however—as he argues interested Austin, as well—is not when the system works according to plan, but when it fails to do so, when it does not quite work. Which is why Cavell returns again and again to Austin’s notion of “excuses,” that is, what we say when our words do not work (Austin 1956). In the course of our investigation, we reflect on Cavell’s notion of subjectivity (“no set of subject positions in principle exhausts my subjectivity”), of autobiography (a diaristic, metonymic, but linear ordering of memory), and of philosophy (“the education of grown-ups”).
60 Sheila Skaff New York University
Cinema and anti-cinema: film language in contemporary Polish films
In February, Polish filmmaker Pawel Pawlikowski brilliantly accepted an Oscar in front of a boisterous Hollywood crowd and 36 million television viewers for a ruminative film about silence and contemplation – in his words, an “anti-cinema film.” His film, “Ida,” is an Ozuesque narrative, set in Poland in 1962 and filmed in seductive black and white, about an 18-year-old novitiate and her hardened aunt who set out to find the graves of their murdered Jewish family members. In the audience at the ceremony were two more filmmakers, whose gentle, gorgeous, quiet documentaries about families suffering through terrible illnesses had been nominated for awards. The evening was the culmination of nearly two years of film festivals and private screenings, reviews and interviews, translations and explanations for each of the filmmakers. It was also a time of public outcry, as “Ida,” the anti-cinema film, is also an anti-modernity film, which uses signs not seen before in Western cinema to denote spiritual identities within debated historical contexts. Semiotic film theory has long posed difficulties for the study of Polish cinema in the United States. The motivations underlying signification in films made during the communist era were opaque to most American viewers of the time, even as those viewers willingly described being mesmerized by the films’ aesthetic virtues. Because of the opacity, studies of film language inevitably evolved into discussions of the technical and political issues surrounding the creation of the studied films. Iconic and symbolic signs were transposed, rendering productive work on the films impossible. While significant contributions were made to semiotic film theory by scholars of Russian and Czechoslovakian film in the 1970s and 1980s in the United States, Polish film was largely left out. In my paper, I consider briefly this aspect of Polish film criticism in the United States before undertaking a semiotic analysis of “Ida” in comparison to several of the contemporary films that have been shown recently in New York City including “Walesa: Man of Hope,” “Aftermath,” “Miasto 44,” “Warsaw Uprising” and one of the nominated documentaries, “Joanna.” By examining the signs of “Ida,” I hope to shed light on the reasons that this film was chosen above the others to receive the film world’s highest accolades and how a film that polarized viewers in its native country could draw unprecedented support among filmgoers and cultural critics in the United States.
61 Traian D. Stanciulescu “Al. I. Cuza” University of Iassy
The light–sound language: biophotonic explanations of the logogenesis
Semiotically speaking, the intuition of a "Creative Word" could be assumed as the "First Light-Sound" manifestation, as a Big-Bang explosion associated with: the primordial "musical frame" for which the 2,7 K reminiscent radiation is considered an objective sign, the determinative pattern which permitted the original substance to organize itself into different cosmic “light systems”, the genesis of the human being as an effect of the light-sounds fields (of the "divine matrix", able to organize the "cosmic dust"), the "cosmic language" which generated the human (non)verbal systems of signs. Scientifically explained, all these aspects are connected through a mechanism of "Holographic Resonance”, involving light and sound too. This mechanism is able to transfer / reflect the properties of a certain system into the assembly of properties of another system (light into sound, for example). This mechanism could rationally explain the amazing intuition of the sufi semioticians: “The word is both sound and light, because the light is the sense of the sound”. This affirmation could be proved only by using the unconventional hypotheses of biophotonics (science of the “living light”, of “biological lasers” theory / technology). In this way, the technical terms of biophotonics argue that the human sensibility to light / sonorous vibrations is due to the optic activity of the "liquid crystal" structures, present in the cellular membranes and cytoplasm. At the level of human organism, these structures permit – by a piezoelectric effect – the translation of each vibrational stimulus into energetic signals (electrons) and bio-luminescent information (biophotons), having the ultra-weak properties of a (bio)laser system. In this frame, the logogenesis presupposed two complementary stages: 1) First, the natural fluxes of light-sounds emitted by the world’s referential were specifically transformed by the system eye → ear → brain into coherent holograms, complexes of waves carrying the properties of the referential (meaning / signified) and being able to be transmitted from brain to brain, by a telepathic type of communication: the “Pre-Babel” language. 2) Second, the cerebral holograms became implicitly a complex of neural commands addressed to the human verbo-kynesthesic system, in order to control the mouth’s muscles, the vocal cords’ tension, the extension of larynx and pharynx etc. The synergetic result was a coherent emission of sounds, a “magically” motivated word namely, homeo-morphically “translating” the information of the light- waves (signified) on the sonorous energetic support (signifier). This metamorphosis / translation process, still ignored by scientists, is responsible for many parapsychical communicative phenomena such as telekinesy, synchronicity, distal therapy, but also for creative arts, such as music, painting, etc. By rationally controlling them, a humankind RAINBOW will be able to sustain and harmonize the human being resonance with his / her inside and outside (semantic) universe, by a “Post-Babel” language of light and love.
62 Frederik Stjernfelt University of Copenhagen
Natural propositions
Peirce's theory of propositions - so-called Dicisigns - have received scant interest in semiotics, if any. Dicisigns, however, constitute an original, semiotic doctrine of propositions, importantly different from those in the mainstream of logic, such as Frege's, Russell's, or Wittgenstein's theories. Peirce has a purely functional definition of Dicisigns - signs which fulfill two simultaneous functions, those of referring to and describing the same object. The ability of Dicisigns to have a truth value depends upon this double function. This simple definition, as a consequence, extends the normal range ascribed to propositions in two directions. One is that the doctrine of Dicisigns becomes a semiotic theory of propositions - it no longer takes human language as the paradigm or even the only case of expression of propositions, rather, it maintains that propositions may be expressed by a plurality of semiotic means, pictures, diagrams, gesture, language, often in a variety of mixed-media combinations. This extension gives a natural account for the central place of diagrams of all sorts in scientific reasoning and papers, just like it accounts for truth claims in media, newspapers, internet etc. which combines, e.g., images and text. Second, this functional definition also has the consequence that propositions cease to have a privileged connection to the human mind and human consciousness, thereby extending the field of propositions into biosemiotics. A central argument is that biological signs would be expected to have a Dicisign structure for Darwinist reasons: signs able to express truth would be more likely to be selected during evolution than signs lacking this ability. Thus, the Dicisign doctrine would cease to see propositions as a result of evolution - rather propositions would be a rational structure to which evolution would have to adapt. This paper introduces and discusses the doctrine of Dicisigns and its present relevance.
References
Stjernfelt, F. 2014. Natural Propositions. The Actuality of Peirce's Doctrine of Dicisigns. Boston: Docent Press.
63 Martin Švantner Charles University in Prague
Semiotic, jazz and silence: (Im)possibilities of applying Peirce in music theory
“At the first instant of waking from profound sleep when thought, or even distinct perception, is not yet awake, if one has gone to bed more asleep than awake in a large, strange room with one dim candle. At the instant of waking the tout ensemble is felt as a unit. The feeling of the skylark's song in the morning, of one's first hearing of the English nightingale.” CP 8.346
“I’ll play it first and tell you what it is afterwards.“ Miles Davis
The main question of the paper is: If Peirce´s semiotics is “a truly general doctrine”, how can one describe music as a system of signs? I would like to consider two main sub-questions in the paper related to the main one. First is: (1) What is the link between “music” and functions of “mind“, from the point of view of Peirce´s semeotics and phenomenology? (Another important sub-question is whether there is any link like this in Peircean philosophy and how does it work, cf. Colapietro 2012). The second sub- question is: (2) Can an analysis of selected chapters of jazz music and its specific way of improvisation tell us anything about signs, semiosis and Peircean semiotics in general? (1) We can find some answers in Peirce´s “mature semiotics” (Short 2007:ix-x), especially in the Letters to Lady Welby, where Peirce roughly introduced his theory of perception as a type of semiosis (cf. Švantner 2014). In these texts we can find some of Peirce´s “musical examples“, especially in the one about the singing skylark (CP 8.346), through which Peirce showed his conception of perception of qualities (feelings). Namely we can say, that music is primarily a type of semiosis, where mind is interpreting percepted qualities. The question is how (from a semiotic point of view). I would like to avoid a simple, reductive and common “application“ of icon/index/symbol in music aesthetics (Monelle 1991, Turino 1999). In my opinion we can take a different (more accurate and pertinent) approach to the sign theory of music stemming from Peirce´s phaneroscopy and late taxonomy of signs (cf. Martínez 2001). (2) The second question is intentionally formulated in the reverse, to the contrary of how many other researchers in the field of music semiotics put it (“What can semiotics tell us about music?“). My aim is to show what music can tell us about semiotics and its limits as a systematical method (in Peircean and also in structuralists’ sense, cf. Reformatskij 1988). In the second part of the paper I would like to show some examples of this perspective: from modern jazz (like free jazz improvisation) or from “postmodern“ music (like John Cage´s 4′33″), which are presenting some serious problems for applied semiotics.
References
Colapietro, V. 2012. Traditions of Innovation and Improvisation: Jazz as Metaphor, Philosophy as Jazz. In Skworónski, P. K., de Waal, C., The Normative Thought of Charles S. Peirce. Fordham University Press. Martínez, J. L. 2001. Semiosis in Hindustani Music. Motilal Banarsidass Publishers. Monelle R. 1991. Semiotics and Linguistics in Music. Harwood Academic Publishers. - 2000. The Sense of Music: Semiotic Essays. Princeton University Press. Short, T. L. 2007. Peirce Theory of Signs. New York: Cambridge University Press. Švantner, M. 2014. On One Storm in a Teacup: Ch. S. Peirce, U. Eco and Semiotic Metaphysics of Objects. Filozofia 69(1): 63-76. Turino, T. 1999. Signs of Imagination, Identity, and Experience: A Peircean Theory for Music. Ethnomusicology 43(2): 221–55.
64 Urszula Terentowicz-Fotyga Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin
Beyond the hegemonic centre and the dispersed periphery. On the dialogue of cultural studies and semiotics of culture
In a recent article published in Sign Systems Studies, Kalevi Kull and Ekaterina Velmezova presented the results of their survey on the future of semiotics. Kull and Velmezova asked a number of established scholars about the main challenges for contemporary semiotics. In a plethora of different answers, one of the more pressing aims facing semiotics concerned consolidating the dialogue between semiotics, with its various branches and approaches, and other disciplines in the humanities and social sciences. The present paper proposes to look at the relation between semiotics of culture based on the writings of Yurii Lotman and the discipline of cultural studies rooted in the Birmingham tradition. Semiotics of culture, though often influential as a method, is poorly institutionalized in the academy; it is only taught at isolated courses and graduate programmes. Despite the “spatial turn” in the humanities, Lotman’s conceptualization of the semiosphere remains relatively unknown in the countries of the so-called triple-A axis of the Anglo-American-Australian region. By contrast, cultural studies experienced one of the most spectacular academic successes of the recent decades and reshaped the face of the humanities, not only in the West, yet it is witnessing an increasing crisis of its disciplinary identity. The paper will look at the two schools, their roots and self-definitions, and consider their different positions within the global production of knowledge by engaging with the contrasting understanding of the centre-periphery dynamics in Lotman’s conceptualization of the semiosphere and in Immanuel Wallerstein’s theory of world-systems. I shall argue that the dialogue of the two schools, while potentially mutually enriching, must involve overcoming the limitations resulting from their different positions within the global academe. Cultural studies needs to address the limitations of the hegemonic discourse; semiotics of culture needs greater concern with self-description and self-definition as a way towards better academic recognition.
References
Kull, K. and Velmezova, E. 2014. What is the main challenge for contemporary semiotics? Sign Systems Studies 42 (4): 530-548.
65 Hailong Tian Tianjin Foreign Studies University
Sign in another context: cross-cultural communication in the age of globalization
On 7 January 2015, two Islamist gunmen forced their way into and opened fire in the Paris headquarters of Charlie Hebdo, killing twelve and wounding eleven. It is reported that the attack was “presumed to be in response to a number of controversial Muhammad cartoons it published” (quoted from Wikipedia) as the gunmen shouted “Allahu akbar” (“God is great” in Arabic) and also "the Prophet is avenged" during the attack. This is an extreme event which can be said to have been triggered by “sign (cartoons in this case) in another context”, or more precisely, by putting different values to the same sign because of different cultural orientations. Similar and less extreme events happen more often with intensified globalization of signs. Thus semiotics scholars need to reconsider the question: how sign put in another context is related with communication between people across cultures? This presentation is an effort of exploration to this question. It begins with re-conceptualizing sign and context. Sign in this study is identified as multimodal meaning making discourse, featuring both in meaning-making and ways in the meaning making; context in this study is not merely physical settings in which signs are put, but identified as subjective constructs designed and ongoingly updated in interaction by participants as members of groups and communities (van Dijk, 2008). Based on these conceptulizations this presentation continues to take into focus a particular way in which signs are globalized, namely, that signs are brought to another culture. It further investigates particular cases of such sign mobility in the context of globalization, arguing that, while sign as discourse makes meaning, it is the way with which meaning is made that is likely to cause conflict in cross-cultural context. Accordingly, putting a sign in another context is a way of making meaning, and this presentation discusses possible strategies that may help with cross-cultural communication.
66 Mingyu Wang Tianjin Foreign Studies University
Meaning of linguistic signs: a layered-meaning theory
Linguistic semiotics focuses its research on meaning as meaning is what linguistic signs are used to express. However, what is meaning remains unsettled in the field of humanities and social sciences though there are various theories about meaning. This paper will first of all offer a critical review of these current theories, including the signified - signifier theory proposed by Saussure, the “S（sign）== R（relation）Medium，Object，Interpret)” theory proposed by Peirce, the semiotic triangle theory proposed by Ogden & Richards, and the theories proposed respectively by Heger and Мельников that improves Ogden & Richards’ triangle theory. While recognizing the contributions of these theories to understanding the meaning of a sign, the review also reveals the shortcomings they share, one of which might be that these theories reduce the complexity of how a sign carries meaning into a simple, closed and one-layered description. Based on such a critical review, this paper proposes a layered-meaning theory that highlights the progressive construct of signifier and signified in the making of meaning. In this theory, language is viewed as a complex system of layered signs, and the meaning of a linguistic sign is formed through the move of the material layer (the deep layer) to the language layer (the shallow layer) and to the utterance layer (the surface layer) progressively, each move containing the signifier of the layer, but the signifier of the second and third move being the construct of the signifier and signified of the earlier move. Similar to the moves at the symbol level as described above, the progressive moves also happen at the thing level, conceptual level, and meaning level. At the thing level, for example, the deep layer is reflected as associated naming, while the shallow layer and surface layer respectively abstract naming and concrete naming. At the concept level, the three layers are reflected as moves from signification to denotation and to referentation. At the meaning level, the three layers are reflected as moves from sensible meaning to cognitive meaning and to situational meaning. This proposed layered-meaning theory will be illustrated with examples in this presentation.
67 Marta Woszczak Jagiellonian University
In between word and image. The interplay of word and image. Signs, symbols, metaphors in Iwona Chmielewska’s original picturebooks
Iwona Chmielewska’s artistic books are more popular and appreciated abroad, especially in Korea, than in the artist’s motherland. Here in Poland, Chmielewska’s works do not have their own place. As the author/illustrator says: on one hand, her books belong to the children’s corner but, at the same time, they are perceived as being too difficult to understand and inappropriate for children. This results from a popular attitude towards picturebooks and illustrated books for children in general, which is very prominent in Poland. It is based on the idea that books for children have to be nice, cheerful and should contain bright and warm colours. In her books, Chmielewska deals with serious topics such as: emotions, interpersonal relations, the Holocaust, blindness, sharing, adolescence, and empathy, matters so important, essential in every human’s life, yet very often absent and forgotten. That is why the ability to read (visual literacy) is crucial for both adults and children, and isn’t limited to Chmielewska’s picturebooks which, as Barbara Bader said: “hinge on the interplay of illustrations and written text, the simultaneous display of two facing pages and the drama of the turning page”. In fact Chmielewska’s works are great examples of crossover picturebooks. “Królestwo dziewczynki”, “Dwoje ludzi”, “O tych, którzy się rozwijali”, to name a few, are amazing artistic books, works of art with congenial design. The meaning is generated simultaneously by written text, images and the overall design of the book. Not only words and images but also the endpaper, the cover as well as the type of paper used present semiotic significance. In the course of this presentation, in accordance with theories of semiotics and visual grammar, I would like to focus on what happens between verbal and visual systems of meaning in Iwona Chmielewska’s picturebooks. How does the artist create her individual language with the use of visual signs, symbols and metaphors? What problems may appear in visual literacy? How can children and adults approach and decode these multimodal texts? What is the role of words in the verbal-visual relationship, which constitutes the basis of Chmielewska’s books?
68 Małgorzata Zadka University of Wrocław
Using and understanding – what do we do with words?
The aim of this paper is to analyze the situation in which relation between sign, thought and word is disrupted or one of these elements is empty. When we perceive some phenomenon, we can embrace it with our thoughts and express its meaning using words. But sometimes we know only the word, its meaning, but the object itself is unclear. We know a designation but do not know to what it refers us. Can we say that we know something if we know just its name and we can use it in proper context but without full understanding of the signifié? Can it still be called the acquaintance of that word? On the contrary – sometimes we know some physical or mental object but we cannot define it or even name it. Some elements of our linguistic encyclopedia do not exist anymore: past terms, names or ideas. We cannot refer them to the world around us but we understand them very well. Are they ‘known’ in the same way as the things contemporary to us? Are they objects of knowledge or of interpretation? In my presentation I want to show these situations on the examples from language and culture.
69 Evripides Zantides Cyprus University of Technology
Beer advertising and national identity: drinking who we are
National identity is not just a notion based on people sharing common history, cultural tradition, language, religion or land, but also as Edensor (2002) suggests, is a result of characteristics and behaviors that take place in everyday practices, rooted in the mundane and the verbal/non-verbal vernacular language of people. From a similar perspective, Anderson (1997) identifies the standard interpretations of nationalism and looks among other, at features of culture like language and the invention of printing in the middle of the 15th century, as means of constructing “imagined- communities” for people who share a national affiliation. With the evolution of printing methods, technology and the growth of Graphic and Visual Communication in a wider sense, print or screen Advertising became a field of major cultural influence. From the construction of gender stereotypes (Goffman), family, aesthetic and social values (Barthes, Bertin, Beasley & Danesi) to national identity it suggests “who we are” and what “we do as people” through a variety of representations in national advertisements of products or social services. The purpose of this study is to examine through a semiotic analysis (Barthes, Bertin, Eco) the verbal and non-verbal messages of a series of KEO Beer advertisements since Cyprus declared state independence in 1960 until today, as examples of extracting messages that deal with national identity ideologies. KEO Beer is a local national manufacturer of beer founded in 1927 and is known to be the largest and most prestigious beverage supplier on the island of Cyprus. The advertisements were drawn from the Press and Information Office (PIO) in Cyprus, the archives of different newspapers and magazines and from various advertising agencies that have dealt with this client.
References
Άντερσον, Μ. 1997. Φαντασιακές κοινότητες (Π. Χαντζαρουλα, μτφ.). Αθήνα: Νεφέλη. Barthes, R. 2007. Εικόνα-Μουσική-Κείμενο. Αθήνα: Πλέθρον. Beasly, R. & Danesi, M. 2002. Persuasive Signs: The Semiotics of Advertising. Berlin, New York: Mouton de Gruyter. Bertin, J. 2011. Semiology of Graphics. California: Esri Press. Edensor, T. 2002. National Identity, Popular Culture and Everyday Life. Oxford: Berg.
70 ABSTRACS IN FRENCH
Justyna Bernat Université Paris-Sorbonne
Les termes d’adresse comme témoin et créateur de la relation
Dans cet article, nous réfléchirons sur la double fonction des termes d’adresse. Leur capacité à désigner et à définir la relation soulève la question du caractère du lien entre le phénomène et le signe. Il est difficile, sinon impossible, de dire si c’est la nature de la relation qui détermine la forme d’adresse ou inversement. D’un côté, en tant que signes, les termes d’adresse traduisent la nature de la relation entre les locuteurs en la verbalisant sous forme des mots/signes conventionnés. De l’autre côté, en tant qu’idée, ils ont un pouvoir créateur et permettent d’imposer un certain type de relation par le locuteur plus charismatique. Cette capacité à créer la relation permet d’influencer voire manipuler l’allocutaire. Dans le cadre de la théorie de la politesse (Brown&Levinson) nous allons analyser l’impact des choix de termes d’adresse sur la qualité de la relation entre les locuteurs. Nous montrerons comment l’attitude du locuteur et la quête d’un objectif précis peuvent influencer la manière de s’adresser. La charge sémantique et sociale de la forme d’adresse donnée seront ici la clé du « management de faces ». Nous étendrons notre réflexion sur le champ d’analyse comparative. La perspective bilingue permettra d’avancer des conclusions moins subjectives et surtout de répondre à la question de savoir dans quelle mesure la signification des termes d’adresse conditionnée culturellement peut influencer sur la relation entre les locuteurs des langues différentes. A l’aide d’un corpus bilingue issu de feuilletons télévisés polonais et français, nous allons essayer de répondre à une série de questions en nous basant sur le comportement natif et naturel des locuteurs. Nous nous interrogerons sur les questions suivantes : dans quelle mesure l’idée qui se cache derrière un terme d’adresse reflète la véritable nature de la relation ? ; Quelles sont les difficultés à nommer proprement le lien entre deux personnes face à la multitude des types de relations et un nombre limité de termes d’adresse ? ; Dans quelle mesure un terme d’adresse peut créer et/ou imposer un certain type de relation dans une dyade ? ; Que se passe-t-il dans une situation exolinguistique ? Est-ce que les traductions des termes d’adresse sont fonctionnellement et sémantiquement équivalentes ? Quel impact ont-elles sur la perception d’une relation dans une dyade hétérolinguistique ?
71 George Cadar Société Roumaine d’Études Sémiotiques
Considérations sémiotiques sur l’origine dace de la langue archétypale de l’Europe
Après quarante ans d’études et en ayant la chance d’être originaire d’une région de la Roumanie où l’on parle encore un idiome de la langue des daces, le département de Maramures, j’ai réussi à reconstruire en grande partie un dictionnaire de la langue archétypale de l’Europe. Cette langue c’est la même dont le grand linguiste Guillaume Rergmann parle au XVIIIe siècle dans son oeuvre célèbre Les Gêtes : c’est la vieille langue des daces parlée encore par toute l’Europe au XIIIe siècle. Il affirme, pour la première fois, que cette langue est « blonogramique » et profondément palatalisée, qu'elle est la même que la langue des étrusques ou des thraces et qu’elle est d’origine vlacho- pélasgique. Dans la Langue Sainte, le mot VALAAHALA, d’où vient le nom des vlachs, signifie ‘les fils de Dieu’, VALAHII en roumain. Si on compare l’oeuvre de Rergmann Les Gêtes et le dictionnaire de Charles Hure, L’Écriture Sainte de l’Europe OT au dictionnaire de la langue pehlavi ou au dictionnaire des celtes zimbras, on peut facilement constater qu’on a à faire avec des mots en majorité vlacho-thraces. Personne n’a réussi, jusqu’à présent, à faire une traduction complète des écritures étrusques ou thraces, parce qu’on n’as pas connu la prononciation exacte des mots de ces temps-là. En ce qui me concerne, j’ai réussi à comprendre la prononciation palatalisée de la langue archétypale et j’ai atteint quelques traductions des écritures thraco-étrusques (en même temps vlacho- pélasgiques). Voilà, ci-dessous, quelques mots avec des racines archétypales européennes qu’on peut trouver encore dans les langues modernes : - IZ, IZA – ‘source, rivière, eau’. Viz, izu en hongrois, ezero en slave. Iz, iaz, iezer en roumain. Les hydronymes qui portent les appellations IZA, ISA: Tisa, Iza, Izer, Tamisa, Moravisa, Ialomisa, Ister, Istru, Nistru. - IN, INA – ‘fleur’: jasmine, racine, in, plantain, protéger, gardé dans JARDIN, GARDEN, GRĂDINĂ. - AR – ‘terre, argile’ et tous les mots: tzar, César, teran, arie, aréal. - IR – ‘courir, écrire, pleurer’, en hongrois jir, en roumain IR ‘crème’. Ce mot exprime les phénomènes d’écoulement, malléabilité et transformation. Dans la langue roumaine actuelle le sens des mots est le même qu’à l’origine, ils gardent le sens de la langue archétypale européenne. Je veux mentionner ici les chercheurs Maria Gimbutas, Marco Merlini, Miceal Ledwith et Harald Haarmann qui ont reconnu que le territoire de la Roumanie représente le berceau de la matrice linguistique de l’ancienne Europe.
72 Anna Gęsicka Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń
Signes de présence: l’auteur dans les pièces de Jean Ott (XXe siècle)
Jean Ott est un auteur français méconnu du début du XXe siècle. Il est auteur de la poésie scientifique et de cinq adaptations des fabliaux médiévaux, en forme d’amusantes petites pièces de théâtre. L’objet de mon exposé sera l’identification, au niveau paratextuel, de tous les signes de la présence de l’auteur, ainsi que la tentative de déchiffrer leur fonction et l’intention prétendue de l’auteur. Jean Ott entreprend un jeu intertextuel, intéressant et complexe, avec son lecteur/auditeur. Cette dernière distinction est difficile à établir. Dans l’édition commune de toutes les adaptations chaque pièce est précédée d’un prologue versifié ou d’une autre forme introductive, à propos desquels on ne sait pas s’ils ont été tous destinés à être lus à haute voix avant le spectacle, ou – ce qui paraît plus probable, vu leur contenu sophistiqué, adressé plutôt à un lecteur érudit, absence de didascalies, soit, au contraire, présence des notes éditoriales – ajoutés à la plupart des pièces à l’étape de l’édition. Ce sont ces parties introductives qui seront analysées de façon minutieuse. La présence de l’auteur s’y manifeste, entre autres, à travers les signatures ou les personnes grammaticales « je » et « tu », signalant un échange d’idées avec le récepteur en forme de monologue qui lui est adressé ou de dialogue présupposé avec lui. À l’aide de divers moyens d’expression, Jean Ott noue des relations cordiales : horizontale – avec le récepteur contemporain, et verticale – avec les auteurs qui l’ont précédé.
73 Tomasz Kaczmarek University of Ło dz
Détruire le signe. Le théâtre face à la Sémantique Générale, ou comment parler pour éviter les ulcères à l'estomac
Depuis les premières décennies du XXe siècle, on note une crise endémique dans tous les domaines de l'activité de l'homme. Paradoxalement, la science elle-même a sapé ses propres fondements empiriques et positivistes. Même la langue, censée véhiculer le message et corollairement assurer la communication, est mise en cause. Le théâtre de cette époque témoigne de cette pénurie et tente, toujours à travers les mots, de rendre compte de l'insuffisance de notre langage. Depuis cette perspective, il est opportun de revoir la production dramatique de certains auteurs qui ont exprimé l'angoisse devant l'inexprimable et de la comparer avec les tentatives de remédier à ces carences de la part de la Sémantique Générale.
74 Marina Maluli César Université Paris-Sorbonne Université de São Paulo
Cursivité et récursivité dans la notation musicale
L'objectif de cette communication est de comprendre et de modéliser quelques aspects de la pensée des compositeurs qui ont choisi une notation non conventionnelle pour écrire sa musique. A partir de l’analyse des esquisses, des manuscrits et des différentes versions éditées de partitions graphiques, on essayera de démontrer comment la cursivité et la récursivité dans l’expression sonore et visuelle se trouvent sensibilisées dans ces différents langages selon le point de vue de la sémiotique tensive. Ces deux concepts, liés à la notion même d’oeuvre d’art peuvent non seulement nous aider à comprendre quelques relations établies entre les arts et la production et la réception de l'oeuvre, mais aussi à démontrer la coordination entre la pensée et l’écriture du son.
75 Ioan Marchiş Babes Bolyai University
La lumière des symboles: le Nœud Dace
Les symboles ou les signes primaires, archétypiques, présents dans la mémoire ancestrale des cultures préhistoriques, ont eu la force de pénétrer et de survivre dans la culture populaire (oralement, par écrit et incisés dans des poteries, des briques et des plaquettes en pierre et en argile, dans des statuettes et d’autres objets rituels ou domestiques). La fréquence à laquelle ces signes - sensibles et rationnels - bombardent l’imaginaire a déterminé l’apparition d’un dépositaire de mémoire génétique de la connaissance humaine, tout en se constituant dans de diverses structures intimes appartenant à des formes de langage verbal et non-verbal. Les signes géométriques de la préhistoire, dans toutes les cultures anciennes, traversent les millénaires avec une précision et une linéarité provocatrices. Les représentations archétypiques de Maramureş sont poussées dans des formes plastiques par une énergie qui habite derrière la conscience : incarnés dans tous les gestes et dans tous les rituels traditionnels, les signes et les symboles sont devenus partie de l’anatomie des sens et de l’expression plastique et littéraire ou artistique. Parmi les symboles les plus importants nés dans cette aire de Tradition Primordiale et gardés dans certaines variantes uniquement dans le Maramureş, il y a le Nœud Dace, avec toutes ses formes exprimées dans de diverses matières et formes, dans l’espace, le relief ou le plan, sur des tapis et sur des matériaux textiles, dans le bois et dans la poterie, dans la pierre et sur des vêtements, mais aussi dans la littérature populaire, dans les mythes, légendes, contes de fées, chansons, danses, incantations, masques, théâtre populaire et ainsi de suite. Le nœud est l’un des symboles sacrés de l’humanité qui contiennent « matériellement » leurs sens. C’est la définition plastique du Principe, qui n’est ni révélé ni non-révélé car ce mystère ne se laisse pas expliquer par des mots, ni épuisé par les sens, par la compréhension, par l’amour. Cette étude se penche sur les modalités symboliques du Nœud, sur la philosophie des « fonctionnalités » imaginaire du nœud, sur ses fonctions métaphoriques, symboliques et archétypiques. Après une présentation générale du Nœud Dace, l’auteur parle du Nœud Sacré, du Nœud du Diable, du Nœud non-spatial, du Nœud Labyrinthe, du Nœud et de l’art moderne, du Nœud et de la Coupe du Graal. La conclusion en est que le Nœud de Maramures est une « forme » idéale du Principe Universel, l’expression entière du Centre, de ses énergies et de ses rayonnements, et aussi de ses fonctionnements symboliques. Il épuise tous les symboles sacrés.
76 ABSTRACS IN ITALIAN
Michele Feliziani University of Ło dz
Comunicazione e interculturalità
Con il mio mi prefiggo di sollecitare l’attenzione critica sulle implicazioni legate alla didattica della lingua italiana come LS in chiave interculturale. Nell’intento saranno prese in considerazione alcune teorie specifiche della comunicazione fra cui J. Habermas e U. Eco. Precisato ciò, il mio sarà un intervento il cui presupposto sarà che insegnare italiano LS significa anzitutto insegnare a comunicare in una lingua straniera e, come più volte, cercherò di evidenziare, comunicare va al di là della conoscenza e dell’uso di un sistema linguistico: implica la capacità di saper interagire con successo all’interno della cultura oggetto. Detto altrimenti si tratterebbe di promuovere nell’apprendente LS una differente disposizione di guardare il mondo con gli occhi dell’altro la cui lingua è oggetto di studio. Con riferimento all’insegnamento in prospettiva interculturale dell’Italiano LS diverse sono le questioni che cercherò di toccare: la situazione comunicativa. Comunicare in Italiano con italiani è un evento che non cade nel vuoto: esistono elementi ben precisi che devono essere presenti, così come le persone coinvolte devono possedere determinate competenze e conoscenze perché l’atto comunicativo abbia successo. I diversi linguaggi. Insegnare Italiano come lingua straniera va oltre la mera competenza linguistica: nella classe di lingua sono coinvolti in maniera attiva docente e discenti, devono entrare tutti i linguaggi, verbali e non verbali, così come non si deve prescindere dall’insegnamento di una precisa consapevolezza culturale legata a valori e specifici modelli culturali.
77 Artur Gałkowski University of Ło dz
I nomi propri in una prospettiva semiotica
I nomi propri fanno parte integrale del lessico di una lingua quindi svolgono funzioni referenziali, semantiche, pragmatico-comunicative e simboliche, malgrado siano posti dalla linguistica “tradizionale” a margine della lingua. Il repertorio dei nomina propria di una lingua è illimitato e in continuo movimento: alcuni sono ormai dimenticati (p.es. molti nomi antichi personali come nel pol. Mścigniew, Drogomysł, Gościwuj), altri muoiono naturalmente, o espulsi dall’uso, passano ad una memoria enciclopedica della storia umana (p.es. i nomi di vari eventi o i nomi amministrativi di luoghi sotto un regime che non esiste più, come p.es. Stalingrad, dal 1925 al 1961 denominazione di una città in Russia, prima e oggi Wolgograd, Stalinogród, dal 1953 al 1956 una città in Polonia, prima e oggi Katowice), altri ancora rinascono ad hoc (anche i nomi “dimenticati”, “morti” o “espulsi” in nuove funzioni referenziali, come p.es. la stazione della metropolitana parigina Stalingrad), finalmente, si producono e si fissano nel discorso onimi nuovi (spesso neologizzati e in veste strutturale multiforme dal punto di vista linguistico, come p.es. le sigle e gli acronimi tipo SHAPE [Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe]). Come si leggono i nomi propri in una prospettiva semiotica? Prima di tutto sono come altri elementi della lingua, segni linguistici, instaurando una relazione polidirezionale: dal nome all’oggetto tramite il concetto; dal concetto al nome tramite l’oggetto; dall’oggetto al concetto tramite il nome; dal nome al concetto tramite l’oggetto. Secondariamente assumono il ruolo di espedienti culturali che ordinano vari spazi, la percezione del mondo, della società, di se stessi in un contesto sociale, gli effetti della capacità creativa materiali, intellettuali e spirituali dell’uomo. Infine portano significati e valori che si possono decodificare conformemente all’informazione contenuta in essi e le convenzioni che li reggono e guidano nella comunicazione. Con un nome proprio, come p.es. Minerva, Socrate, Varsavia, Primavera dei popoli, Mani Pulite, esprimiamo ciò che si potrebbe dire usando una descrizione ridotta all’essenziale o estesa nel discorso corrispondente, e in questo caso si esprime praticamente “senza” parole, con un solo segno linguistico e simbolico, a patto che il mittente e il ricevente dispongano della stessa o paragonabile dose di sapere e competenza nel processo di decodificazione di un dato onimo. La situazione teoricamente cambia quando si ha a che fare con un nome proprio potenziale, senza un referente preciso, come un nome personale di un antroponomasticon potenziale, p.es. Pietro, Saviano, Bello di Notte, ma anche in questo caso i segni onomastici rivestono significati appena servono a denominare un individuo concreto, p.es.: san Pietro, Roberto Saviano – scrittore, Zbigniew Boniek – calciatore detto Bello di Notte. La lettura semiotica dei nomi propri particolari nonché dei loro insiemi (onimie) crea reti di informazioni e mondi significativi che possono servire per la sistemazione onomastica interna, ma anche per la sistemazione culturale degli elementi della realtà e del pensiero umano.
78 Eleonora Gironi Carnevale Università degli Studi di Napoli "L'Orientale"
Linguistica-mente. La Parola e l'Essere in Kotik Letaev di Andrej Belyj
La produzione di Andrej Belyj (1880-1934) appare quantomai variegata e difficilmente passibile di una definizione chiara ed univoca. Tuttavia, in essa, la riflessione volge sempre verso la parola e le possibili articolazioni secondo cui quest'ultima può essere declinata nel testo letterario. Riguardo a Kotik Letaev, è stato già rilevato come esso si costruisca su una chiara opposizione tra ordine e caos (stroj e roj), senza approfondire, tuttavia, le implicazioni che ciò comporta a livello linguistico. Non si tratta, infatti, soltanto di uno scheletro su cui si ancorano le varie opposizioni tematiche del testo, ma del vero e proprio carattere fondamentale della lingua utilizzata da Belyj. Il principio cardine dell'enantiomorfismo diviene, qui, soltanto la forma illusoria di un gioco in cui, invece, è l'annullamento di qualsiasi piano di simmetria e l'utilizzo dei piani asimmetrici quali caratteri determinanti nel testo ad essere fondamentale. E l'asimmetria in Kotik Letaev trova la sua manifestazione massima nell'utilizzo di una lingua artificiale che mescola elementi della lingua naturale con rielaborazioni linguistiche ad opera dell'autore. La lingua, per Belyj è, soprattutto, mezzo di costruzione, la cui naturale funzione dialogica viene alterata non al fine di trasmettere un messaggio nuovo, ma allo scopo di creare un codice che sia emanazione perfetta di un preciso messaggio di comunione tra micro- e macrocosmo. In questo senso, essa non è più ciò che precede il testo e lo genera, ma è emanazione diretta del testo e del suo messaggio, che si costruisce con l'evolversi della portata semiotica degli eventi in esso narrati. La sua evoluzione coincide, quindi, con l'evoluzione della coscienza dell'autore-protagonista, nonché di quella del lettore-ricevente. La possibilità di trasmissione del messaggio non è più dovuta solo ad una comunanza linguistica o ad una facilità traduttiva dalla lingua naturale dell'autore a quella del lettore, ma ad una ipotizzata (o meno) simmetria nella formazione della coscienza sia del primo che del secondo. Essendo frutto ora del caos, ora dell'ordine, la lingua assumerà connotazioni differenti e avrà un grado più o meno alto di traducibilità, il che la renderà un elemento dinamico e dinamizzante nel contempo. Il potere analogico del racconto diventa, allora, ciò attraverso cui si rende possibile una rifigurazione del reale, la scoperta di dimensioni nascoste all'esperienza umana e la trasformazione della propria visione dell'esistenza. Tutto questo in virtù di una lingua intesa semioticamente come un sistema che si articola sull'alternanza di occultamento e disvelamento del senso e del sé.
79 Anna Głodowska Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń
Non solo con le parole. Il significato e la funzione del linguaggio dei gesti nei dialoghi platonici
Platone considerato, già nell’antichità, il maestro del dialogo ha creato questo genere letterario e l’ha portato alla perfezione sia per quanto riguarda la forma che il contenuto. In margine al discorso principale talvolta schizza, con poche parole, le caratteristiche dei protagonisti delle sue opere. Lo scopo del mio discorso è la risposta alle domande che significato hanno e che ruolo svolgono le informazioni sul linguaggio del corpo dei partecipanti alla discussione la quale costituisce la parte principale del dialogo platonico. È ovvio che le menzioni del comportamento dei protagonisti non solo arricchiscono il discorso filosofico dando al lettore la possibilità di conoscere meglio il carattere degli interlocutori ma svolgono nelle opere di Platone diverse funzioni. Le laconiche descrizioni dei gesti dei personaggi, inserite anzitutto nelle parti narrative, possono fornire informazioni sulle relazioni tra i protagonisti e sull’atteggiamento di Socrate, e indirettamente del Platone stesso, nei confronti dei personaggi storici introdotti dall’autore nelle sue opere come partecipanti alla discussione. Le menzioni del comportamento dei protagonisti possono anche costituire la forma di introduzione alla parte seguente del discorso oppure un annuncio degli eventi futuri.
80 Massimo Leone University of Turin
Freedom and necessity in semiotics
Freedom is not chaos. As human beings, we are able to formulate infinitely various thoughts and express them through an equally unlimited array of signs, for instance through verbal language. The nature of this both semantic and expressive infinity, though, should be specified: as C.S. Peirce first intuited, our thoughts do not normally develop randomly, although they potentially may always do so, but tend to converge toward certain regularities, which eventually crystallize into habits. The proliferation of interpretants in Peirce’s model of cognition is absolute freedom. There is no need for an interpretant to take such or such semiosic direction in interpreting another sign. Yet, this absolute freedom is only potential, for actual semiosis inevitably entails a series of constraints. Whereas the absolute freedom of semiosic potentiality cannot be matter of any scientific operation, for it escapes, by definition, any regularity, and, therefore, any predictability, the coagulation of habits in the social dynamic of semiosis does create repetitions, for habits would be impossible without redundancy. Semiotics can scientifically analyze this redundancy, as well as variations that stem from it, in the same way as chemistry analyzes regularities in the molecular structure of a material. Positing language at the core of humanities triggered their potential transformation into scientific endeavor not only in Peirce’s tradition of thought but also in that of structural linguistics. In Saussure’s lineage too, language is, on the one hand, the dimension along which human beings continuously exert their freedom, as there is no grammar that is so cogent as to oblige speakers of a language to select a certain combination of signs, and only that, from the socially shared deposit of symbolical forms. Humans must abide by the rules of a linguistic game if they want to play it, but at the same time they are constantly free to play it with their own style. Some of them, indeed, develop such a powerfully idiosyncratic style as to change the rules of the game itself (and again, we dread societies in which the free verbal play of poetry is banned or submitted to rules). Yet, on the other hand, the revolutionary perspective of structural linguistics exactly consisted in providing evidence that the human exercise of linguistic freedom is built on sophisticated dialectics between regularities and exceptions, repetitions and variations. The structural understanding of phonetics introduced in humanities the idea that language too, and culture with it, could be modeled through a sort of calculus, through a combinatorics. Such turning point resulted from a specific semiotic ideology (that is, a certain way of imagining meaning), and yet it was precisely in the domain of language that the study of culture first seemed to give rise to a capacity for prediction analogous to that of sciences. The paper will seek to define the nature of scientific epistemology that is characteristic of semiotics and determine its capability for prediction and production of falsifiable hypotheses.
81 Piotr Salwa University of Warsaw
How to do things with puns
I puns, giochi di parole, paronomasie, ci assalgono oggi da ogni lato: dalla pubblicità, dai titoli dei giornali e dei libri, dai dischi, dai nomi dei negozi, dei ristoranti e delle imprese. La loro presenza quotidiana è diventata banale, mentre le valutazioni che se ne danno spaziano dalle critiche e dal rifiuto più assoluto all’apprezzamento e alla sopravalutazione della loro efficacia. I puns servono ad attirare l’attenzione degli utenti, a far notare ciò che vogliono annunciare, a comunicare in maniera estremamente concisa. Con la loro diffusione si fa spazio un certo tipo di umorismo e di divertimento legato alla necessità di disambiguazione. Lo stesso tipo di umorismo e di divertimento si fa notare anche in certi linguaggi settoriali per altro fondati sulla serietà (informatica, economia, politica). Nel mio intervento vorrei soffermarmi sull’uso delle strategie analoghe nelle argomentazioni utilizzate nel discorso scientifico. Sebbene i puns veri e propri non sono frequenti, essi certamente non sfigurerebbero in questi contesti. Quali sono i vantaggi di queste scelte? A parte quelli menzionati già prima, esse permettono di esibire una certa disinvoltura intellettuale, di relativizzare e “alleggerire” l’impegno, di creare un clima disteso ed accogliente, di distanziarsi ed anche di portare un discorso destinato agli “iniziati”. Per illustrare queste affermazioni mi servirò di alcuni esempi tratti dal Lector in fabula di Umberto Eco. Queste strategie permettono anche di raggiungere diversi tipi di pubblico. E sotto alcuni aspetti non sono affatto nuove. Come esempio si potrebbe ricordare un autore italiano del cosiddetto cinquecento minore, Ortensio Lando, che si servì ampiamente e con molto successo di palinodie e paradossi.
82 Michele Sita Universita Cattolica Pe ter Pa zma ny di Budapest
Dalla scelta al ricordo, attraverso la teoria della formatività
Durante l’intervento si ha intenzione di proporre un percorso che, partendo da alcune tematiche care all’esistenzialismo, prima fra tutte la concezione di “scelta”, vuol indagare su come i cambiamenti sociali abbiano modificato ed influenzato visibilmente le prospettive dell’interpretazione. La scelta ha un ruolo fondamentale non solo a livello esistenziale ma anche a livello interpretativo, laddove l’intepretazione viene ad occupare un raggio d’azione e di competenze piuttosto vasto. Rimandare la scelta, riflettere su quale direzione prendere, lasciarsi invadere dal dubbio e dall’angoscia non può far altro che rendere tutto più difficile. Questo discorso esistenziale lo si può trasportare, portando avanti un temerario parallelismo, anche nell’ambito dell’interpretazione o della creazione di un’opera d’arte, di uno scritto letterario, di un’opera filmica e via dicendo. Si proporranno quindi vari esempi, alcuni ripresi dalla concezione kierkegaardiana dell’aut-aut, altri che faranno invece riferimento o, per essere più precisi, rappresenteranno il contraltare di quello che è il mondo attuale e contemporaneo. Si può parlare ancora di scelta al giorno d’oggi? C’è ancora tempo per poter interpretare il mondo o, per dirla in maniera più cruda, l’uomo di oggi ha l’opportunità e la voglia di soffermarsi ad interpretare ciò che lo circonda e dare un senso ai segni? La ricezione di un’opera viene spesso sminuita, semplificata, banalizzata, se da un lato è vero che ci si propone di porsi di fronte ad un’opera “aperta”, bisognerà comunque tener presente che la sua ricezione potrà invece essere, se non “chiusa”, di certo alquanto ridotta. Altro problema riguarda il fatto che, anche per i tempi che ci impone la società di oggi, molto spesso si potrà parlare di una sorta di ricezione indotta, guidata, di un prodotto già pronto e impacchettato che, se da un lato ci permette di recuperare tempo, di evitare gli imbarazzi e i tentennamenti della scelta, dall’altro non farà altro che toglierci la libertà di interpretare i segni e dare un indirizzo preciso al nostro pensiero. Il pensiero si indebolisce, perde vigore, si limita a constatare, ad accettare senza proporre. Questo discorso porterà quindi ad una sorta di rivisitazione della teoria della formatività proposta da Luigi Pareyson, anche perché il discorso relativo alla ricezione vale, forse ancor di più, per la creatività e per i processi che portano alla formazione di un’opera. Questo riesame dei processi formativi, messi sotto la lente dei giorni d’oggi, offrirà alla teoria della formatività il ruolo di tramite e punto di congiunzione tra quella che era l’angosciosa scelta kierkegaardiana ed un possibile ritorno al valore del ricordo, un valore che potrà essere speso e rivisitato in ambito interpretativo ed esistenziale, permettendo quindi di dare un nuovo senso a segni, pensieri e parole.
83 Gitana Vanagaite Universita di Educologia della Lituania
L’incontro delle intenzioni dell’autore, del lettore e del testo. Il caso di Vanda Juknaitė e Dorota Terakowska
L’opera letteraria è una realizzazione del pensiero dell’autore. J. Lotman la definisce come un modello ideale della realtà, sottolineando così il ruolo attivo dell’autore nel progettare una realtà di secondo grado rappresentata dall’opera letteraria stessa. La progettazione, a sua volta, si basa su selezione e composizione ed è per questo che, secondo W. Iser, essa diventa un appello dell’autore al mondo. Mentre nel discorso orale l’intenzione del parlante e il senso del discorso sono quasi identici, nel discorso scritto, secondo P. Ricoeur, l’intenzione dell’autore e l’intenzione del testo cessano di coincidere e, nella produzione del senso, il testo gode di autonomia rispetto a chi ne è autore. Nel saggio “Lector in fabula” U. Eco rappresenta “autore modello” e “lettore modello” come strategie testuali, immanenti al testo, che, però, non coincidono mai con le persone empiriche dell’autore e del lettore. Secondo U. Eco, bisogna analizzare ciò che un’opera esprime di per sé, indipendentemente dalle intenzioni di chi la produce o di chi la legge. Chiudendo, però, l’interpretazione nei confini del testo, si potrebbe precludere la possibilità di tenere conto delle posizioni etiche che gli autori vogliono esprimere e della possibilità di dialogo con la società. È, quindi, necessario che l’interpretazione valuti anche il contesto in cui il testo è collocato. Nelle opere letterarie di Vanda Juknaitė (Stiklo šalis (Il paese di vetro), Kad pamatytų šitą pasaulį (Che vedessero questo mondo)), e Dorota Terakowska (Poczwarka) si rappresenta l’esperienza di maternità che si acquisisce stando accanto a figli malati. Questa esperienza comporta una nuova dimensione di essere nel mondo, offre la possibilità di dialogo diverso con se stessi e aiuta a comprendersi meglio in quanto lettori che rileggono se stessi alla luce del mondo che il testo progetta. Per questo motivo il modello semiotico-strutturalista diventa limitato per tale dialogo. Senza negare la legittimità della semiotica e del strutturalismo nella epistemologia della spiegazione, è però necessario che le strategie testuali del lettore e dell’autore modelli si combinino con le intenzioni dell’autore empirico come sono indicate da dichiarazioni contestuali quali interviste o saggi. In questo caso può risultare di aiuto la tradizione fenomenologico-ermeneutica, sopratutto la linea sviluppata da P. Ricoeur, per il quale il senso verbale e il senso mentale si integrano in maniera dialettica e devono, quindi, essere interpretati in una prospettiva di reciprocità.
84 ABSTRACS IN POLISH
Jadwiga Czerwińska Uniwersytet Łódzki
Signum temporis w dramatach greckich
Zdaniem Umberto Eco „pojęcie nieograniczonej semiozy nie prowadzi do wniosku o nieistnieniu kryteriów interpretacyjnych. Stwierdzenie, że interpretacja (jako podstawowa cecha semiozy) jest potencjalnie nieograniczona nie oznacza, że interpretacja nie posiada celu i ‘płynie jak rzeka’, całkowicie samoistnie”4. Stanowisko U. Eco można odnieść do opinii wyrażonej przez Arystotelesa na temat mitu greckiego. Stagiryta zauważa bowiem, że „Nie wolno poecie dowolnie przekształcać przekazanych przez tradycję mitów, […] powinien on jednak wykazać się własną pomysłowością i w sposób artystyczny wykorzystać tradycyjny materiał” (Arystoteles, Poetyka 1453 b 22-27). Stwierdzenia U. Eco i Arystotelesa staną się punktem wyjścia do rozważań na temat twórczego wykorzystania, ergo: interpretowania mitów, stanowiących warstwę fabularną dramatów. Jest rzeczą oczywistą, że w procesie komunikowania, również w dramatach, mamy do czynienia z procesem przekazywania znaków językowych, do odczytania których niezbędna okazuje się znajomość kodu. Odnosząc to do materiału mitologicznego, należy podkreślić, że każdy twórczy proces, jakiemu podlegał mit w greckiej tradycji literackiej, jest procesem, który można określić wyrażeniem in statu nascendi. Wiąże się to przede wszystkim z tym, że nie istniały kanoniczne wersje mitów, a tylko te, jakie przekazywała wcześniejsza tradycja literacka. Dlatego tragicy greccy opracowywali wykorzystywane w swoich dramatach mity w taki sposób, by jak najpełniej odpowiadały one ich zamierzeniom twórczym. Dotyczy to również całej sieci znaczeniowej, jaką nadawali tworzonym przez siebie wersjom mitów, które stanowiły fabularną warstwę ich dramatów. Przy analizie poszczególnych utworów scenicznych, jako tekstów kultury (tragedii, komedii czy dramatów satyrowych), daje się odnotować fakt, że każdy z autorów dokonywał wyboru, a więc twórczego opracowania zarówno fabularnej warstwy swojego utworu, jak i stosownych przez siebie środków poetyckich. Ich dobór implikowała przede wszystkim idea sztuki, jaką miał do przekazania poeta. Ta zaś odzwierciedlała polityczne – w antycznym tego słowa rozumieniu – zakorzenienie w czasach, w których utwór powstawał. Z tego też względu utwory dramaturgiczne możemy uznać za signum temporis, „znak czasu”, w którym powstawały.
4 Umberto Eco, Interpretacja i historia [w:] Interpretacja i nadinterpretacja, red. S. Collini, przeł. T. Bieroń, Kraków 2008, s. 29.
85 Tomasz Dalasiński Redaktor naczelny czasopisma „Inter-. Literatura-Krytyka-Kultura”
Podmiot jako znak in progress. O literackim „ja” procesualnym (dwa spojrzenia)
Referat dotyczyć będzie zjawiska procesualności podmiotu literackiego, tj. jego dynamiczności, permanentnej niegotowości i pozostawania na poziomie tego, co „wydarzane”, a nie tego, co „dokonane”, w sferze dyseminacyjnej gry powtarzania i różnicowania siebie. Podstawą definicyjną procesualności „ja” jest jej nieesencjalność; stąd też filozoficzno- semiotycznymi punktami wyjścia dla dookreślenia interesującej nas kwestii będą Foucaultowska genealogia podmiotu (praxis konstrukcji „ja”) oraz teorie procesu jako konstruowania znaczeń Julii Kristevej. Genealogia podmiotu Michela Foucaulta stanowiła próbę wyjścia z metafizycznych tradycji w filozofii i, wtórnie, w literaturoznawstwie, a tym samym – próbę nieesencjonalnego i atożsamościowego (w sensie osobowym) definiowania procesualności podmiotu. Według Foucaulta podmiot jest procesem możliwym do uchwycenia w swojej genealogii, nie stanowi zatem centrum egzystencji, ale wypadkową logiki dyskursów; tym samym przedstawia się jako przedmiot wiedzy będący rezultatem działań interpretacyjnych. Jest wobec tego tym, co jest poznawane w swojej zmienności, a to dzięki ustawicznemu doświadczaniu jego pograniczności. Granice (bariery) stanowione przez dyskursy uniemożliwiają zaistnienie esencjonalnej i transcendentnej jaźni, ale stanowią podstawę formowania się podmiotów w ruchu (dokładniej: w ruchu w kierunku tych granic). Podmiot w procesie istnieje przez to jako podmiot w praxis dążenia-do, które to dążenie jest wieczną potencjalnością, jako takie nie może zostać zrealizowane – w związku z czym podmiot nie może osiągnąć autonomii i osobowej (czy na osobową – jak w wypadku podmiotowości literackiej – kreowanej) tożsamości. Ta radykalna definicja podmiotowego procesualizmu zdekonstruowana została przez Julię Kristevą. Kristeva, analizując semiologicznie Ewangelię św. Jana, usiłowała zdefiniować „ja” poprzez logikę negacji narracyjnej tożsamości, logikę heterogeniczności, sprzeczności i polimorficzności (co, jak się zdaje, miało swoje antecedencje w Nietzscheańskiej teorii podmiotu dynamicznego, rozwijającego się temporalnie i ograniczonego tylko kategorią czasowości). Podmiot dla Kristevej nie tyle „jest”, co „wyłania się” czy „przejawia” jako proces konstruowania znaczeń; język podmiotu również znajduje się w procesie, wobec czego nie jest on w stanie ani odkryć sensowności realności (realność nie ma sensu sama przez się), ani zbudować jej w postaci trwałej. W wyniku analiz koncepcji Foucaulta i Kristevej uznać można, że podmiot procesualny to nieciągły przedmiot praktyki dyskursywnej. Nieciągłość ta to nie tylko nieciągłość tekstu jako formy, której „ja” jest właściwością i jako która się aktualizuje. To także nieciągłość samego podmiotu, determinowanego z jednej strony przez dyskursy, a z drugiej – przez konieczność manifestowania się w czasie, autokonstruowania. Ten podwójny wymiar nieciągłości „ja” teoretycznie uzasadnia nie tylko kreacyjny, ale i autokreacyjny aspekt podmiotowości, a zatem takie jej aspekty, które winna uwzględniać analiza podmiotu tekstu literackiego.
86 Aleksander Gemel Uniwersytet Łódzki
Mechanizm genezy konwencji znaczeniowych w semiotyce Eco – kognitywny model gier sygnalizacyjnych
Teoria semiotyki Umberto Eco stanowi bez wątpienia jedną z najbardziej doniosłych i wpływowych XX-wiecznych teorii języka. Mariaż strukturalizmu i teorii informacji obecny w koncepcji Eco otworzył przed nią bowiem całą gamę zastosowań począwszy od komputacyjnych modeli komunikacyjnych, na teoriach semiotyki kultury kończąc. Mimo całego metodologicznego bogactwa koncepcja Eco ma jednak dość istotną lukę. Jej autor niemal całkowicie marginalizuje wątek genezy kodu nie dostarczając żadnej teoretycznej propozycji ujednoliconego mechanizmu kształtowania konwencji znaczeniowych. Celem mojego wystąpienia jest dostarczenie takowego teoretycznego mechanizmu. Zaproponowany model opiera się na koncepcji gier sygnalizacyjnych (Lewis, 2002; Skyrms 2010) rozszerzonej o semantykę przestrzeni mentalnych Gärdenforsa (2004, 2014). Rozszerzenie to jest podyktowane koniecznością uzgodnienia areferencyjnej teorii znaczenia Eco ze stanowiącą klasyczny przykład semantyki referencyjnej teorią gier sygnalizacyjnych. Zgodnie z tą ostatnią znaczenie – vel. zawartość informacyjna – jest reprezentowane przez wektor, którego komponenty stanowią mierzoną w bitach ilość informacji o partykularnych stanach świata przesyłaną przez sygnał. Formalnie:
푃 (푆 |휎 ) 푃 (푆 |휎 ) 푃 (푆 |휎 ) 푃 (푆 |휎 ) ⟨푙표푔 1 1 , 푙표푔 2 2 , 푙표푔 3 3 , … , 푙표푔 푛 푛 ⟩ 푃 (푆1) 푃 (푆2) 푃 (푆3) 푃 (푆푛)
Powyższa propozycja wyrażenia zawartości informacyjnej pozwala na uzgodnienie teorii informacji z logiczną interpretacją zawartości propozycjonalnej rozumianej jako zbiór możliwych sytuacji (Skyrms, 2010). Zaproponowane w wystąpieniu rozszerzenie teorii Skyrmsa o kognitywne komponenty zaczerpnięte z teorii przestrzeni mentalnych umożliwia usunięcie z jego koncepcji wszelkich znamion referencyjności. Konsekwencją takiego rozszerzenia modelu gier sygnalizacyjnych jest jego pełna zgodność z intra-lingwistyczną teorią semantyki Eco. Włączenie przestrzeni mentalnych Gärdenforsa do modelu gier sygnalizacyjnych pozwala bowiem ująć Ecowski proces sygnifikacji jako wzajemną synchronizację struktur mentalnych agentów biorących w niej udział; mechanizm ten dostarcza równocześnie koherentnego z teorią Eco wyjaśnienia genezy podstawowych konwencji kodujących. Dodatkowym celem wystąpienia jest formalizacja koncepcji semantycznej Eco pozostająca w zgodzie z podstawowymi założeniami jego teorii (t.j. min. intralingwistyczność, zgodność z matematyczną teorią informacji Shannona-Weavera, 1949), oraz z zaproponowanym w wystąpieniu kognitywno-sygnalizacyjnym modelem genezy konwencji kodującej.
87 Dorota Jewdokimow Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu
Wstyd jako mechanizm kultury
Tezą wyjściową podlegającą dalszej analizie w ramach danego opracowania będzie twierdzenie Łotmana: „Wstyd jest jedną z najpotężniejszych dźwigni kultury”. Zrozumienie owego twierdzenia będzie wymagało określenia zakresu znaczenia samego pojęcia „wstydu” w kulturze europejskiej, a dalej skupienia uwagi na procesie transformacji owego znaczenia na tle historycznym, jego powiązania z innymi pojęciami (m.in. wina, honor), a także przyjrzenia się sposobom jego ekspresji w ramach tekstów kultury. Porządkując swe rozważania dokonam wyodrębnienia kilku płaszczyzn (zachowując świadomość dynamizmu relacji między nimi, czy wręcz ich nierozdzielności) funkcjonowania mechanizmu wstydu: społecznej, odnoszącej się do tego, co zbiorowe oraz psychicznej, odnoszącej się do tego, co indywidualne, ze szczególnym uwzględnieniem sfery cielesności a dalej seksualności, gdzie mechanizm wstydu wydaje się szczególnie aktywny. Określenie szczególnej roli mechanizmu wstydu w sferze seksualności i próba jego diachronicznego ujęcia w ramach kultury europejskiej skieruje naszą uwagę na historyczny moment zmiany obszaru jego funkcjonowania i związanych z tym konsekwencji. Jako istotny moment zwrotu uznam przeobrażenia związane ze zjawiskiem „rewolucji seksualnej”, determinującej, według określenia Giddensa, głęboką „przemianę intymności” oraz istotne przekształcenia w sferze obyczajowości. Na płaszczyźnie leksykalnej i semantycznej pojęcie wstydu styka się z szeregiem pojęć mu pokrewnych tworząc złożoną i dynamiczną sieć znaczeń. Zbiór pojęć stycznych, pokrewnych i relacji między nimi różni się w ramach leksyki poszczególnych języków narodowych. Dodatkowo granice między polami znaczeń poszczególnych pojęć są trudne do uchwycenia, niemożliwe jest ich jednoznaczne określenie, wykazują one zmienność historyczną oraz niestałość użyć w indywidualnych aktach mowy. Pojęcia te, pozostając w określonej relacji bliskości semantycznej, „współwystępują w rozmaitych konfiguracjach, substytuując się, dopełniając oraz krzyżując, co tworzy nowe semantyczne jakości”5. Bardziej efektywnym sposobem uchwycenia znaczenia danego pojęcia wydaje się zatem analiza pojedynczych aktów mowy połączona z ich badaniem kontekstualnym, uwzględniającym historyczne, kulturowe, społeczne i indywidualne uwarunkowania. A zatem badanie pojęcia wstydu będzie sprowadzało się do analizy jego użyć w określonych tekstach kultury. Tekstami kultury, które chciałabym poddać analizie będą dzieła filmowe Ostatnie tango w Paryżu oraz Wstyd.
5 Kamila Termińska, Mozaistyczna koncepcja wstydu, [w:] Wstyd w kulturze. Zarys problematyki, red. E. Kosowska, Katowice 1998, s. 117.
88 Kamila Junik-Łuniewska Uniwersytet Śląski
Ciało jako znak w przestrzeni tekstu. Rozważania tożsamościowe wokół Błękitu Tedźi Grower
Narracja Błękitu (tekstu spełniającego kryterium dzieła otwartego, jak definiuje je U. Eco) indyjskiej pisarki Tedźi Grower [Tejī Grovar] koncentruje się wokół poszukiwań autorki/narratorki własnej tożsamości. Podmiotowość narratorki książki jest tu kategorią płynną – nie jest stała, dana odgórnie, ustalona, ale ma charakter procesualny. Współczesne koncepcje podmiotu zakładają jego niepełną samowiedzę, ale także uwzględniają wpływ opowiadania na samoświadomość. Wiedza ta często jest potencjalna, zawarta implicite w utworze. „Ja” podmiotowe działa, tworzy, wyraża się i buduje. „Ja” przedmiotowe jest jego obrazem. Ten, kto mówi (opowiada siebie?), jest podmiotem – a zatem podmiotowość jest zdominowana przez akt mowy. Zarówno czynność pisania – ale także lektury – jest w pewnym sensie aktem fizycznym, w który zaangażowane zostaje ciało. Towarzyszy mu bowiem gest, ruch, dotyk. Cielesność wpisana w podmiot stanowi jego zewnętrzną postać, powłokę zmysłową, odbierającą bodźce ze świata i konstytuującą stosunki między innymi bytami. Ciało jednak, podobnie jak tożsamość wewnętrzna, ulega fragmentaryzacji, nie jest dającym się postrzegać fenomenem, a pewnym emblematem, projekcją. Poszukiwanie ciała staje się pewnym namacalnym dowodem na istnienie, a dokonuje się to poprzez dotyk innego, kontakt fizyczny, ale także poprzez tekst. Narratorka Błękitu obiektywizuje swoją cielesność poprzez oddzielenie jej od psyche (także poprzez zmianę z „ja” na „ona”), umieszczenie na/w obrazie – tak, by w ten sposób uczynić swoje „ja” postrzegalne, namacalne, opisywalne. W odniesieniu do wybranych fragmentów Błękitu, przeprowadzona zostanie analiza ciała (cielesności) obecnego w tekście, w akcie pisania, który jest równocześnie procesem stwarzania tożsamości. Rozważania prowadzone będą w oparciu o indyjską ideę słowa, które poprzez nazywanie stwarza przedmiot, oraz w nawiązaniu do koncepcji corpusu J.- L.Nancy’ego.
89 Armina Kapusta Uniwersytet Łódzki
Semiotyka miasta wielokulturowego w ujęciu geograficznym
Semiotyka bada procesy komunikacji społecznej, która dotyczy nie tylko dyskursu językowego, literackiego, historycznego, ale także toczącego się w przestrzeni geograficznej. Urządzenie jej podprzestrzeni, w tym przestrzeni miejskiej, jest efektem zaspokajania potrzeb mieszkańców – akceptacji i zrozumienia, szacunku i uznania, poszukiwania ładu, harmonii krajobrazu, możliwości poznawania. Elementy przestrzeni miejskiej nie pełnią wyłącznie funkcji utylitarnej, niejednokrotnie są znakami świadczącymi o obecności określonych społeczności, ich wartościach, tożsamości, swobodzie i estetyce wypowiedzi. Zauważalne jest to szczególnie w miastach wielokulturowych – zarówno tych, zamieszkałych przez różne narodowości, przedstawicieli odmiennych wyznań, zawodów, jak również miast, w których aktywni są członkowie subkultur. Przyjmując, iż społeczności dążą do zaakcentowania swojej obecności w jednostkach osadniczych, rozważyć należy, jakie znaki materialne pozostawiają w przestrzeni oraz w jaki sposób je kształtują, by były one zrozumiałe także poza ich własnym kręgiem odbiorców. Istotną kwestią, szczególnie dla badań geograficznych, jest umiejscowienie tych znaków. Zastanawiać może, czy lokalizacja znaków jest motywowana, czy też istnieją tereny, obiekty, które zostały wyselekcjonowane przez władze miejskie lub wybrane przez społeczności w celu wyrażania swoich norm i przekonań. Stosując metodologię geograficzną, opierającą się na przestrzennym analizowaniu zjawisk, można pokusić się o próbę zapisu tych relacji w formie mapy, a następnie jej interpretacji dążącej do poznania relacji między społecznościami. Zadania takiego podjęto się badając Suboticę położoną w Wojwodinie, w Serbii, której wielokulturowość wyrażana jest poprzez koegzystencję licznych narodów (Serbowie, Węgrzy, Chorwaci, Buniewcy, Jugosłowianie i inni), języków, wyznań (m.in. katolicyzm, prawosławie, protestantyzm, judaizm, islam). Analizie poddano wybrane znaki związane z poszczególnymi narodami, w tym pomniki i nazwy ulic oraz placów, rozważając ich liczbę i lokalizację współczesną oraz w wybranych okresach w XX wieku. Diachroniczne ujęcie problemu pozwoliło na poznanie sposobu gospodarowania przestrzenią oraz relacji między grupami narodowymi i etnicznymi w odmiennych okolicznościach politycznych i kulturowych.
90 Anna Kapuścińska Uniwersytet Kazimierza Wielkiego w Bydgoszczy
O znaku językowym z perspektywy lingwistyki tekstu
Referat stanowi polemikę z głęboko zakorzenioną w nauce o znaku tendencją do utożsamiania znaku językowego ze słowem. Strukturalistyczny pogląd, iż słowa sygnifikują odpowiadające im obiekty, z jednej strony oferuje wygodny punkt odniesienia do analiz językoznawczych, z drugiej zaś – stanowi daleko idące uproszczenie w postrzeganiu języka, które może prowadzić do zniekształceń badawczych. Słowo podniesione przez strukturalizm do rangi znaku idealnego nadal w wielu koncepcjach traktowane jest jako podstawowy znak językowy, nawet jeśli akceptuje się jednocześnie znakowość tekstów, traktowanych niekiedy jako znaki złożone. Tymczasem w myśl lingwistyki tekstu należałoby nie tylko zakwestionować uprzywilejowaną pozycję słowa w kategorii znaków językowych, ale również całkowicie podważyć jego znakowość. W konsekwencji słowo byłoby traktowane jedynie jako figura, wchodząca w skład tekstu, jako znaku. Akceptując założenie, iż język nie występuje inaczej, niż tylko w tekstach, trzeba byłoby traktować słowo jedynie jako element abstrakcyjny, jednogłośnie sytuowany przez strukturalistów w tak zwanym „systemie językowym". Konsekwencją tego byłoby uznanie, iż – z wyjątkiem tekstów jednowyrazowych – słowo nie posiada zdolności sygnifikowania jakiejkolwiek jednostki kulturowej i w konsekwencji nie jest ono znakiem.
91 Barbara Kilijańska Uniwersytet Wrocławski
Poster: Znaczenie napisów na murach na przykładzie przestrzeni miejskiej Turynu
W niniejszej pracy przedstawiona została rola jaką odgrywają napisy w przestrzeni miejskiej. Zoperacjonalizowano pojęcia graffiti, napisów ściennych i napisów na murach. Analizie poddano przekazy stworzone za pomocą liter, malowideł i innych znaków graficznych w Turynie (Włochy). Wybrano te, które oceniono jako możliwe do zinterpretowania dla szerszej publiczności, a nie tylko zrozumiałe dla osób znających określony slang. Przedmiotem przeprowadzonych badań własnych były inskrypcje pozostawione przez writerów na obiektach użyteczności publicznej (m.in. szkoły wyższe), bary, zewnętrznych fasadach budynków oraz murze wzdłuż którego biegnie słynny deptak nad rzeką Pad (via Murazzi del Po). Materiał badawczy stanowi dokumentacja fotograficzna wykonana w 2015 roku w stolicy Piemontu na potrzeby niniejszej pracy. Przyjęto hipotezę badawczą, która zakłada, że napisy tworzą przestrzeń manifestacji poglądów. Pracowano w nurcie perspektywy socjologicznej. Napisy uznano za środek wyrazu poszczególnych grup społecznych i symboliczne zawłaszczanie przestrzeni miejskich. Większość napisów była w języku włoskim, niektóre w angielskim. W procesie badawczym cały materiał zostały przetłumaczony na język polski. Podjęto próbę oceny wpływu badanych obiektów na wizerunek miasta. Uwzględniono trzy zmienne, takie jak warstwa tekstualna napisu, wizualny obraz oraz przestrzenny kontekst występowania. W analizie semiotycznej szczególną uwagę zwrócono na kontekst sytuacyjny i kontekst sąsiednich znaków. Przyjęto perspektywę Umberto Eco, zgodnie z którą kontekst może ulegać zmianie z zależności od tego, ile informacji jest przekazywanych, jakiej treści i jaka jest funkcja przekazu. Szczególną uwagę podczas badań zwrócono na komentarze dodawane do pierwotnych komunikatów. Zastosowano kryteria klasyfikacji graffiti według Alein Milon, która wyróżniła następujące kategorie: psychologiczne, estetyczne, społeczne, filozoficzne, ekonomiczne i polityczne. Na tej podstawie przypisano inskrypcje do poszczególnych zbiorów. Zgromadzony materiał badawczy został porównany do zdjęć wykonanych wcześniej przez dwóch innych badaczy na terenie Łodzi (Jakub Gałuszka) i Śląska (Grażyna Osika). Podjęto próbę zakwalifikowania własnych fotografii do kategorii interpretacji napisów zaproponowanych w innych miastach.
92 Magdalena Maria Kubas Uniwersytet Warszawski
Przekład wewnątrzjęzykowy i intentio lectoris: Da capo Antonii Pozzi i Fuoco che scoppietta Eugenio Montale
Powstały w 1929 roku krótki tekst Antonii Pozzi (1912-1938) pt. Da capo można czytać i interpretować jako przekład wiersza Il fuoco che scoppietta Eugenio Montale opublikowanego cztery lata wcześniej w zbiorku Ossi di seppia. Zgodnie z klasyfikacją Jakobsona mamy do czynienia z przekładem wewnątrzjęzykowym, choć w bardzo szczególnej odsłonie, która wiąże się ze specyficzną konwencją gatunkową (przekład w obrębie jednego systemu) i językowo- interpretacyjną (tożsamość języka tekstu wyjściowego i przekładu). Funkcja nowego tekstu pozbawiona jest imperatywu użytkowości, który w przypadku przekładu wewnątrzjęzykowego bywa kwestią nadrzędną i sprowadza wszelkie operacje do parafrazy tekstu wyjściowego, w której znaczone przeważa nad znaczącym. Zgodnie z podziałem Jakobsona w tekście poetyckim relacja ta jest odwrócona. Jaki jest cel ponownej i niemal tożsamej czasowo poetyckiej formulacji tekstu? Przekładu, w którym autorka mierzy się z potencjałem systemowym znaczonego i kładzie od nowa podwaliny znaczącego w postaci cech gatunkowych? Jeśli uznamy autonomię twórczości młodej poetki, która wykazuje się niezwykłą dojrzałością lektur i doboru środków stylistycznych, nasuwa się myśl o pisaniu jako o wyniku aktu lektury. Przekład na wyjściowy język i gatunek literacki stanowi strategię autorską "drugiego stopnia", metaliteracką kodyfikację intentio lectoris Antonii Pozzi w stosunku do obranego modelu i dzieła. Celem referatu jest analiza splotu funkcji językowych oraz aktu interpretacji w przekładzie, w którym odbiorca dokonując aktualizacji i wypełniając puste przestrzenie tekstu staje się autorem nowego dzieła. Wychodząc od elementów formalnych, które występują równolegle w przytoczonych utworach, omówione zostanie piętrzenie się strategii czytelniczych i pisarskich (przeobrażenie intentio lectoris w intentio auctoris), które rekonstruują od nowa językową i poetycką budowlę tekstu.
93 Anna Kurska Uniwersytet Jana Kochanowskiego w Kielcach
Interpretacja i nadinterpretacja. Przykład: Balladyna Juliusza Słowackiego
Słowacki mówił o Balladynie, że ma dziesięć tysięcy celów. Nic dziwnego, że wygenerowała wielką liczbę interpretacji często sobie przeciwstawnych, wzajem znoszących się. Ich imponująca liczba ale i rozmaitość inspiruje do poszukiwania odpowiedzi na pytanie dlaczego i w jaki sposób jej tekst mógł wytworzyć tak wiele – jak by powiedział Eco – dobrych interpretacji. Chciałabym zastanowić się na czym polega ów fenomen Balladyny, która otwiera się na ciągle nowe interpretacje i nadinterpretacje. Wykryć strategie za pomocą, których poeta do dziś wodzi czytelnika za nos, (Eco zastanawiając się nad Sylwią Gerarda de Nervala, pisał o „wywodzeniu czytelnika w pole”). Chciałabym ustalić, jak działa tekst, czyli odsłonić, które z jego różnych aspektów są lub mogą stać się istotne dla spójnej interpretacji dramatu, a które nie dają możliwości takiego odczytania. Interesować mnie będzie, idąc za wskazówkami Eco „za pomocą jakich środków semiotycznych tekst wytwarza wielość wzajemnie sprzecznych efektów oraz dlaczego w historii swych interpretacji potrafił wywołać i utrzymać tyle różnych odczytań” (U. Eco, Replika, [w:] tegoż, Interpretacja i nadinterpretacja, red. S. Collin, przekł. T. Bieroń, Kraków 1996, s. 144). Wszystko po to, by lepiej zrozumieć, jak działa tekst, czyli Balladyna. Warto przypomnieć, że Eco zmagał się wraz z powołanym przez siebie zespołem nad Sylwią Nervala. Zastanawiał się między innymi nad tym, jak to się dzieje, że w historii swych interpretacji tekst potrafił wywołać i utrzymać tyle różnych odczytań. Moje zadanie jest daleko skromniejsze. Chciałabym pokazać pewne tropy, które miały wpływ na kalejdoskopowość odczytań Balladyny.
94 Katarzyna Machtyl Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu
Znak i (jego) przedmiot. Czy zwrot materialny w semiotyce?
Interesuje mnie status znaku i – w konsekwencji – reprezentacji wizualnej we wspo łczesnych dyskursach semiotycznych, a zwłaszcza problem: semiotyka a tzw. zwrot materialny w humanistyce i obraz jako mediacja versus obraz jako konkretny przedmiot generujący sens. Fundamentalnym staje się pytanie o to czy dyskurs semiotyczny jest możliwy do utrzymania po zwrocie materialnym w humanistyce, a więc w obliczu zakwestionowania spuścizny zwrotu tekstualnego? Upraszczając, jeśli „wszystko jest tekstem” (zwrot tekstualny), a metafizyka zostaje usunięta poza namysł humanistyczny (jeden z postulatów poststrukturalizmu), to przedmiotem refleksji semiotycznej staje się sam znak lub jego znaczące, a obiekt odniesienia wzięty w nawias. Mając na uwadze klasyczne już, nowoczesne koncepcje semiotyczne, w ramach których mówić możemy o lingwistycznych i nielingwistycznych metodach analizy obrazu: te pierwsze zakładają, że wszystkie obiekty kulturowe powinny być rozpatrywane jako językowe (np. szkoła tartusko-moskiewska), te drugie, że, wprawdzie, reprezentacje wizualne mają charakter znakowy, lecz nie wymagają lingwistycznych metod badania (np. retoryki wizualne Umberto Eco i Rolanda Barthesa), odpowiedź na pytanie o zwrot materialny w semiotyce może być trudna, ale próba jej udzielenia zdaje się bardzo intrygująca. Bruno Latour zarzucał semiotyce (ogólnie pojętej) zbytnią koncentrację na samym dyskursie, kosztem tego, do czego dyskurs ten się odnosi i kosztem jego użytkowników, a tym samym niedowartościowanie obiektów składających się na całą sieć mediacji. Zarzut ten, jak sądzę, najbardziej jasny się staje, gdy stawiany jest pod adresem semiotyki lingwistycznej, strukturalistycznej. Ferdynand de Saussure wyróżniając znaczące i znaczone w binarnej budowie znaku przypisał tym elementom kolejno: obraz akustyczny i pojęcie, z definicji niematerialne, oraz charakteryzował wzajemne odnoszenie się znaków jako relacyjne, w odróżnieniu od referencyjnego modelu zaproponowanego przez Charlesa S. Peirce’a. Gdy zatem poddać analizie semiotyczne nurty właśnie pod kątem statusu odniesienia przedmiotowego okazuje się, że nie zawsze zarzut Latoura jest uprawniony. Przykładem z obszaru klasycznej semiotyki może być wspomniany koncept Peirce’a, jednak zamierzam przyjrzeć się bliżej myśli nieco późniejszej, poczynając od francuskiej semiologii pikturalnej, której przedstawiciele, odchodząc od strukturalizmu Saussure’owskiego, postulują traktowanie obrazu jako jednostkowego materialnego przedmiotu, sprawczego konkretu generującego sens. Zwrócenie się ku obiektowi sprawiło, że stała się ona fundamentem współczesnej ikonologii. Następnie przejdę do, chronologicznie najnowszych, ustaleń humanistyki zorientowanej ontycznie, a więc object-oriented philosophy i object-oriented ontology (głównie myśl. Latoura i B. Olsena) Orientacja ontyczna i ugruntowanie metafizyczne semiotyki mogą okazać się jednym z przejawów zwrotu materialnego dokonującego się w jej ramach.
95 Jakub Osiński Uniwersytet Mikołaja Kopernika w Toruniu
Estetyka – poetyka – retoryka: o początkach dyskursu interdyscyplinarnego
Zagadnienie, które pragnę rozpoznać w swoim wystąpieniu, dotyczy początków systematycznej i systemowej refleksji nad tym, co w kulturze obecne od czasów starożytnych – polifoniczności przekazu artystycznego jako interdyscyplinarnego medium. Początek ów upatruję w studiach semiologicznych z połowy ubiegłego stulecia, a za jego autorów uznaję trzech badaczy: Rolanda Barthes’a, Jana Mukařovský’ego oraz Umberta Eco. Zapożyczone z dociekań strukturalistycznych aparaty teoretyczne, dzięki ich ukontekstowieniu, przełożeniu teorii znaków na praktyki interpretacyjne, pozwoliły na wyznaczenie nowego nurtu w badaniach humanistycznych. Wychodząc od Barthes’owskiej retoryki obrazu, wcześniej dostrzeżonej przez Mukařovský’ego, rozwiniętej przez Eco, kolejni badacze przecierali szlak wiodący pomiędzy przekazem wizualnym a zawartymi w nim kategoriami klasycznej retoryki. Późniejsze badania doprowadziły do uznania hegemonii obrazu nawet w tak marginalizowanej dotychczas jego odmianie, jak tekst literacki. Punktem wyjścia referatu będzie więc porównanie tych różnych, choć niezwykle podobnych koncepcji założycielskich, „klasycznych” dla współczesnej interdyscyplinarności, i odniesienie ich do późniejszych ustaleń (z zakresu narratologii, kognitywistyki czy teorii reklamy). Jednak, podążając za tytułami dwu dzieł Arystotelesa, mówić można nie tylko o retoryce, ale i o poetyce obrazu (w szerokim jego znaczeniu wizualnym). Analogicznie rzecz ma się z muzyką czy szerzej: wszelkimi dźwiękami; już Roman Ingarden dostrzegł ich znaczenie (marginalizując przy tym jakości wizualne utworu), czemu dał wyraz w swojej teorii dwuwymiarowości dzieła literackiego. Zarysowane tu spektrum rozważań, co należy podkreślić, nie wychodzi przy tym poza refleksje nierozerwalnie związane z estetyką, która jest domeną każdej ze sztuk. Stąd dochodzimy do tezy tego wystąpienia: interdyscyplinarność rozumieć należy nie tylko jako koherentność kategorii opisu poszczególnych dziedzin artystycznych, ale i pokrewieństwo strukturalne każdej z nich – przynajmniej zdaniem „autorów” współczesnego dyskursu interdyscyplinarnego. Pokrewieństwo to stało się asumptem do sprzężenia różnych narzędzi teoretycznych, dzięki którym dostępne są dziś wszystkim naukom humanistycznym obszary niegdyś homogeniczne. Dlatego też referat będzie miał na celu dojście początków teoretycznej refleksji nad interdyscyplinarnością w humanistyce, współcześnie kategoryzowaną jako komparatystyka interdyscyplinarna. Rozważania te wydają się o tyle ciekawe, o ile dostrzega się często powracające ostatnio pytanie o możliwość interdyscyplinarności. I dlatego warto w zarysowany powyżej sposób spróbować na to pytanie udzielić odpowiedzi.
96 Krystyna Pietrych Uniwersytet Łódzki
Literackie zabawy (z) Eco. Historie palimpsestowe Olgi Tokarczuk
Tekst jest próbą przeczytania trzech powieści Olgi Tokarczuk, wybitnej współczesnej polskiej pisarki, w kontekście sztuki powieściowej Umberta Eco, a ściślej – dwu zasadniczych propozycji autora Imienia róży. Po pierwsze interesuje mnie stosowana przez Tokarczuk strategia, którą Eco nazwał „podwójnym kodowaniem”, i której funkcje tak określał: „stosując technikę podwójnego kodowania, autor ustanawia coś w rodzaju cichego porozumienia z wyrobionym czytelnikiem i że tak zwani zwykli czytelnicy, którzy nie chwytają co bardziej wyrafinowanych aluzji, mogą mieć wrażenia, że coś im umyka. Ale zadaniem literatury jest (…) nie tylko dostarczanie ludziom rozrywki i pociechy. Zadaniem literatury jest także prowokowanie i inspirowanie czytelnika; zachęcanie go do tego, by ten sam tekst przeczytał jeszcze raz, a może nawet jeszcze kilka razy, ponieważ wtedy zrozumie go lepiej. Dlatego uważam, że podwójne kodowanie nie jest żadnym arystokratycznym dziwactwem, lecz sposobem okazywania szacunku dla inteligencji i dobrej woli czytelnika”. Po drugie, czytam powieści Tokarczuk (Podróż ludzi Księgi, Prawiek i inne czasy oraz Księgi Jakubowe) jako realizacje „historii palimpsestowych", wedle określenia Christine Brookes-Rose, która w swoich rozważaniach dotyczących interpretacji i nadintrepretacji, skoncentrowała się na dociekaniu specyfiki gatunku, który tak właśnie nazwała, Eco zaś używa określenia „powieściowy świat możliwy”. Zasadnicze pytanie, na jakie staram się odpowiedzieć, nie dotyczy wąsko pojętych relacji intertekstualnych, lecz inspiracji, jakie mogły płynąć z powieściopisarkiej praktyki i teoretycznej refleksji Eco dla literackich wyborów i artystycznych projektów polskiej autorki.
97 Roksana Rał-Niemeczek Uniwersytet Opolski
Myśl – znak – dzieło. (O)znaczenie pamięci w twórczości Justyny Bargielskiej
Referat stanowi próbę unaocznienia oraz interpretacji obecności znaków w prozie i poezji pisarki młodego pokolenia. Tak sformułowany temat wystąpienia konotuje semiotyczny kontekst metodologiczny, pogłębiony o perspektywę dyskursu feministycznego. Autorka skupi swój wywód na analizie technik deskrypcji znaku wyodrębnionego na dwóch płaszczyznach. Po pierwsze na poziomie tekstualnym, w formie zaszyfrowanej, popękanej składni językowej, wyrażającej szczególny rodzaj traumy podmiotu literackiego (w tomiku Dwa fiaty). Zaś po drugie w postaci oswojonego znaku-świadectwa na poziomie symboliki, którym są bransoletki pamiętania, opisane w Obsoletkach. W tym zbiorze mini opowiadań czytelnik poznaje swoistą strategię utrwalania pamięci po poronieniu – analogicznie według schematu „myśl – znak – dzieło”. Książka jest świadectwem na istnienie pamięci wyrażanej poprzez pewne zewnętrzne znaki. Część kobiet posiada bowiem biżuterię, która przypomina im o utraconym dziecku. Miniatury Bargielskiej są właśnie taką formą zachowywania pamięci, to czterdzieści jeden literackich bransoletek – świadectw wewnętrznego dramatu autorki. Głównym zamierzeniem wystąpienia będzie dokładne prześledzenie procesu utrwalania zarówno oznaczonej jak i znaczącej pamięci w perspektywie przekształceń na gruncie semiotycznych własności tego, co pomyślane/wspominane (myśl), tego co zasygnowane (znak) oraz tego co zapisane w formie dzieła. Wszystko to zostanie wpisane w studium kobiecej psychiki, poddanej rozmaitym zmianom w tym ewolucji percepcji w postrzeganiu rzeczywistości po stracie dziecka. W związku z tym celem autorki będzie ukazanie literackich mechanizmów pamiętania, skoncentrowanych w uzewnętrznianiu pewnych znaków materialnych bądź językowych.
98 Bartłomiej Starnawski Polska Akademia Nauk w Warszawie
Prokrust i kolektyw. Deixis a działanie performatywne w tekście „kultury stalinowskiej”
Celem mojego referatu, sygnalizowanym w tytule, jest opis zjawiska deixis w perspektywie krytycznej analizy dyskursu, a zwłaszcza: a) funkcji pełnionych przezeń w socrealistycznym przekazie propagandowym; b) jego roli tekstotwórczej względem ideologicznego, retorycznego actio (totalitarnego) i podawczej dla uobecnianych weń lub za jego pomocą ex re reguł normatywnego przedstawienia. Innymi słowy – deixis należy rozumieć szerzej, nie tylko jako rodzaj tranzytywnej jednostki morfologicznej wypowiadania (Lyons), ale jako rodzaj „stosu pacierzowego” stalinowskiej/socrealistycznej semiozy. Jest rodzajem chwytu retorycznego, w którego specyfice (transparentność) mieści się akt performatywny fundujący m.in. strukturę „My” dyskursywnego (pluralis sovieticae, kolektyw, komunistyczna wspólnota), umożliwiający aplikację socjalistycznego habitusu w przestrzeni antropologicznej za pomocą rozmaitych, celowanych form komunikatu (przy jednoczesnym, rzecz jasna, ukryciu towarzyszącej im modalności deontycznej i pozycji dyskursywnego agensa, czyli dysponenta reguł komunikacji w owym homofonicznym systemie). Analizę retoryczną opierać będę na rozmaitych tekstach doby stalinowskiej, tworzących hierarchiczny system współzależności (alegacja typu: Stalin-Bierut-„publicystyka zaangażowana”), wiodący od archetekstu ideologicznego w którym formułowane są inwarianty, przez formę przekładu owego zestawu ideologemów o charakterze politycznym i aksjologicznym na kod estetyczny, aż po dalszą mimetyczną reprodukcję tegoż komunikatu w kolejnych tekstach.
99 Aleksandra Szwagrzyk Uniwersytet Mikołaja Kopernika w Toruniu
Dyskurs nowych mediów a literatura dla dzieci i młodzieży
Nowoczesność rodzi zupełnie nowy styl odbioru literatury u młodych czytelników, ściśle powiązany z przekładem intersemiotycznym literatury na język internetowy, język gier komputerowych czy filmów. Teksty dla dzieci naśladują konstrukcją narracji „język”, a w zasadzie dyskurs mediów. Współczesna „pakietowość” kultury (książki dla młodych są produktem, elementem większej całości, na którą składają się gry komputerowe, blogi, audiobooki, filmy etc.), nie zabija słowa pisanego, ale staje się jego nowym sposobem oddziaływania, sprawia, że literatura dziecięca nabiera nowych znaczeń, staje się niejednoznaczna semantycznie. McLuhan pokazał, jak druk wpłynął na europejską kulturę, literatura młodzieżowa stanowi natomiast egzemplifikację tego, jak nowe media mogą wpłynąć na kształt kultury. W tym kontekście istotna jest również paratekstualność literatury dla młodych odbiorców – treści kulturowe ulegają przekształceniom (łatwo je skopiować, powielać), pojawiają się formy takie, jak sequel, prequel, remiks, remake. Istotny jest także dyskurs zwany „władzą oka”, dzieci są mu poddane, kiedy oglądają ekranizacje popularnych tekstów fabularnych. Film wykorzystuje liczne środki do transpozycji słów na obraz kinowy, w ten sposób wzbogaca literaturę, zachęca odbiorcę do sięgnięcia po literaturę. Filmy dla młodych adaptują formy stricte literackie, zwłaszcza powieści. Władzy oka młodzi odbiorcy poddani są także podczas lektury e-booków, literatura multimedialna stanowi połączenie warstwy tekstowej, ikonograficznej, a niekiedy także audialnej. Książka staje się interaktywna, a co za tym idzie – czytelnik decyduje nie tylko tak, jak w przypadku papierowej wersji, o tempie lektury, ale i o sposobie, kolejności odczytania tekstu. Tekst zbudowany z hiperłączy daje wiele możliwości odbioru, staje się podobny do gry komputerowej, stale się zmienia – nie ma tutaj jednego wariantu (płynność). Przykład stanowią e-booki z sagą Rafała Kosika Felix, Net i Nika – interaktywne, zmuszające do działania nie tylko zmysł wzroku. Dyskurs nowych mediów oparty jest na replikacji i konwergencji, znaki nieustannie powtarzają, książki w postaci audiobooków stanowią nie tyle próbę interpretacji głosowej powszechnie znanych tekstów w wybranym wariancie (popularne baśnie i bajki), ile dodatek do powieści, stanowią pakiet. Greg Urban zjawisko to określiłby mianem „metakultury nowości”, czyli kultury przetwarzania oraz wzbogacania, opartej na replikacji (ułatwiają ją nowe media).
100 Ewa Szczęsna Uniwersytet Warszawski
Znak w cyfrowym świecie. Z zagadnień semiotyki tekstu cyfrowego
Celem wystąpienia jest ukazanie struktury znaku cyfrowego, jego specyfiki i ich wpływu na kształtowanie cyfrowej semiosfery. W środowisku cyfrowym znak poddany zostaje reinterpretacji. Zastane koncepcje budowy znaku – binarna (de Saussure, Hjelmslev, Barthes, Eco) i triadyczna (Peirce) okazują się przydatne, ale niewystarczające do opisu znaku digitalnego. Wymagają koniecznej modyfikacji, by móc ująć jego specyfikę – uwzględnić niematerialny charakter znaku cyfrowego, istnienie reprezentacji znaku na poziomie programowania i użytkowania, charakter meta- znaków na poziomie programowania, obecność na poziomie użytkowania znaków narzędziowych – znaków działań na tekście i znaków mediacyjnych a także wieloznaków (np. kursor). Ponieważ znak leży u podstaw tekstu i dyskursu, określenie jego własności pozwala rozumieć i badać zmiany, jakie dokonują się w budowie i sposobach semiotycznego i szerzej kulturowego istnienia przekazów. Pozwala rozumieć i analizować takie własności tekstów kultury cyfrowej, jak ich: otwartość, niegotowość, hybrydyczność, palimpsestowość, wielowersyjność, polisemiotyczność, wielodyskursywność, interaktywność, uprzestrzennienie. Wystąpienie pokazuje bezpośredni związek cech swoistych znaku digitalnego z nowym sposobem istnienia tekstu i dyskursu w środowisku cyfrowym. Szczególny nacisk położony zostanie na przesunięcia, jakie dokonują się w warstwie tekstury – tkanki semiotycznej tekstu (zwłaszcza tekstu artystycznego), jej sposobie istnienia i funkcjach, jakie pełni.
101 Olga Tuszyńska-Szczepaniak Uniwersytet Łódzki
Wizerunki masek w średniowiecznej architekturze sakralnej jako znaki apotropaiczne. Próba zbadania średniowiecznej semiotyki komunikacji i funkcji znaku
W architekturze średniowiecznej występuje wiele rodzajów masek. Interpretowane są jako znaki o charakterze apotropaicznym. Zjawisko to jest głęboko zakorzenione w kulturze i nie dotyczy jedynie architektury, ale również rzemiosła artystycznego. Wizerunki masek w architekturze zarówno świeckiej, jak i sakralnej pojawiały się już w najdawniejszych czasach. Etruskowie na przykład umieszczali je na akroterionach i antefiksach, w celu ochronienia domostwa przed złym spojrzeniem. Na czym polegała zatem zależność między znakiem, słowem, sposobem rozumienia? Jaki mechanizm myślowy zachodził pomiędzy wizerunkiem maski a odwiedzającymi kościół. Jakie mogły być reakcje na znak? Kto był odbiorcą informacji? Wierni, którzy rozumieli kod, czy zła moc, którą maska miała odstraszać? Czy rozumienie znaku – wizerunku maski w wielu kulturach było takie samo? Jeśli tak, to co sprawiło, że ten międzykulturowy znak miał charakter apotropaiczny? Interesującym jest nie tylko zbieżność ikonograficzna typów przedstawień masek, ale i ich etymologia. W większości języków słowo „maska” ma podobne brzmienie i pisownię. Wizerunki masek w architekturze średniowiecznej nadal stanowią niezbadany element w historii sztuki. Niniejszy referat jest próbą zbadania wizerunków masek w architekturze jako znaków, komunikujących pewną treść, związaną z magią sympatyczną oraz zrozumienie kodu. Interdyscyplinarne i wieloaspektowe badania wniosą nowe rezultaty w rozumieniu masek w architekturze. Zwłaszcza zrozumienie mechanizmu myślowego pomiędzy dziełem, słowem i odbiorcą. Umieszczanie masek w średniowiecznej (i wcześniejszej) architekturze można uznać za sygnał. Powstaje jednak wiele pytań: Kto jest jego nadawcą? Kto odbiorcą? W jakiej konwencji? Co stanowi, że niechrześcijański znak był rozumiany i stosowany w chrześcijańskiej architekturze sakralnej? Jaka jest zatem konwencja? Istnieje również możliwość, że na chrześcijańskich świątyniach, jako elementy ochronne stosowano symbole, które rozumieli poganie, bo to w nich miały budzić strach, bądź dawać ulgę, że świątynia jest chroniona. Osoby odpowiedzialne za program ideowy i ikonograficzny świątyni posługiwały się kodem, świadomie skonstruowanym komunikatem, który mieli zrozumieć odbiorcy. Kod rozumiany jest w pełnym wymiarze tylko w obrębie danej kultury, która nadaje mu wartość znaczeniową. Badania opierać będą na materiale ikonograficznym, tekstach źródłowych, literaturze przedmiotu, kartach ewidencyjnych. Podejmę się próby zbadania ich wykorzystując metodologię semiotyki. Problem zrozumienia kodu jest jednym z podstawowych elementów syntezy badanego przeze mnie zjawiska.
102 Katarzyna Wasilewska Uniwersytet Jagielloński
Metafora jako sposób konceptualizacji pojęć specjalistycznych na przykładzie pojęcia języka w polskich pracach językoznawczych
Język jako pojęcie specjalistyczne jest tworem wieloaspektowym. Z jednej strony ma naturę fizyczną: dźwięki, które artykułujemy oraz znaki, które zapisujemy tworzą doznawalne za pomocą zmysłów i możliwe do badania teksty. Z drugiej strony język jest wynikiem procesu abstrahowania, nienamacalnym bytem, o którym myśli się i mówi się, przypisując mu różne właściwości. Językowi jako abstraktowi pierwotnie nie odpowiadają żadne bezpośrednie formy językowe. Zgodnie z założeniami językoznawstwa kognitywnego tego typu byty są konceptualizowane, a więc rozumiane i komunikowane, w kategoriach doświadczenia bezpośredniego, bardziej konkretnego, dotyczącego fizyczności, czyli poprzez metaforę. Mechanizm metafory najlepiej opisuje koncepcja integracji pojęciowej, według której metafora jest amalgamatem powstałym przez stopienie ze sobą przynajmniej dwóch przestrzeni mentalnych, z czego jedna jest lepiej poznana, doświadczana częściej lub bliższa doświadczeniu fizycznemu, druga jest przestrzenią abstrakcyjną. Teoria integracji pojęciowej pozwala na opisanie sposobu, w jaki metafora uwypukla tylko wybrane aspekty modelowanego pojęcia oraz na uniknięcie zrównywania abstrakcyjnej domeny docelowej z domeną źródłową. Proces integracji przebiega prymarnie na poziomie pojęciowym, a jego dostrzegalnym wynikiem są wyrażenia metaforyczne w konkretnych tekstach. Metafory mogą przejawiać się w postaci jednorazowych, obrazowych porównań, katachrez lub przenikać całą strukturę tekstu wpływając na dobór pojedynczych wyrażeń. Ponieważ abstrakcyjne domeny poznawcze są praktycznie niewyobrażalne bez metaforycznej konceptualizacji, wyrażenia metaforyczne, które służą ich modelowaniu, stają się konwencjonalnym, schematycznym sposobem ich rozumienia i ko- munikowania o nich. Ze względu na stopień ogólności oraz rozbudowanie struktury domeny źródłowej metaforyczne konceptualizacje układają się w kontinuum, z jednej strony którego znajdują się metafory najbardziej uniwersalne a zarazem najmniej konkretne, np. nadające pojęciu charakter przedmiotu metafory X TO PRZEDMIOT, X TO POJEMNIK, z drugiej bardziej specyficzne i treściowo bogatsze takie jak X TO BUDYNEK, X TO MASZYNA, X TO NARZĘDZIE. Te ostatnie uwypuklają tylko niektóre aspekty modelowanego obiektu, co widoczne jest zarówno w skali jednego tekstu, gdzie występować może wiele równoważnych metafor ujmujących to samo zjawisko na różne sposoby, jak w skali całej dziedziny, gdzie ta sama metafora może mieć różne znaczenie w zależności od celu, paradygmatu czy założeń metodologicznych. Celem referatu jest przedstawienie sposobów metaforycznego konceptualizowania języka jako pojęcia specjalistycznego w tekstach polskich tekstów językoznawczych. Omówione zostaną metafory o wysokim stopniu konwencjonalizacji, których metaforyczność jest najmniej odczuwalna. Stanowią one standardowy sposób myślenia i mówienia o języku, dzięki czemu jawi się on jako zorganizowana, dynamiczna struktura, która posiada określone cechy i podlega określonym zjawiskom. Ponadto niektóre domeny takie jak NARZĘDZIE, MASZYNA czy ORGANIZM stają się domenami źródłowymi metafor, które opisują inne abstrakcyjne przedmioty badań naukowych.
103 Maria Judyta Woźniak Uniwersytet Łódzki
Znaki litanijności w poezji hiszpańskiej początku XX wieku6
Przedmiotem badawczego zainteresowania będą znaki litanijności w poezji hiszpańskiej pierwszych dekad XX wieku, które, pozostając znakami dawnej tradycji, zaczynają w tym okresie nabierać nowych znaczeń. Poetyka litanii w sensie genologicznym (tj. gatunku literackiego, nie zaś po prostu tekstu modlitewnego) kształtuje się wokół trzech genów litanijnych, pochodzących z różnych kręgów kulturowych: ektenialnego, chairetyzmicznego i polionimicznego, które składają się m. in. na gatunkowy obraz świata (zob. W. Sadowski, Litania i poezja, Warszawa 2011). Wszystkie te geny przejawiają się poprzez różne znaki – stałe, utrwalone w tradycji formuły, wezwania i responsoria, anafory różnego rodzaju, składnię wezwań i responsoriów, delimitację tekstu, antonomazje, paralelizm składniowy. To tylko niektóre elementy poetyki litanijnej, wymagające szczególnej uwagi badacza zajmującego się ewolucją gatunku. A w wybranym okresie wiersz litanijny przeobrażał się szczególnie dynamicznie, wzbogacając o nowe znaczenia i zarazem „zapominając” o niektórych sensach obecnych w gatunku od stuleci. Podobne przemiany następowały w literaturze polskiej, w której wiersz litanijny ulegał wówczas szczególnym przekształceniom – intensyfikacji, zaprzeczeniu, dezintegracji, zarazem jednak ukazując swoją produktywność w stosunku do już ukształtowanego wzorca. Trzeba podkreślić, że w Hiszpanii sytuacja było szczególna, bo nastąpiło to po okresie dość nikłej obecności litanii w tamtejszej poezji. Czasem tradycja litanijna ukazuje się czytelnikowi jedynie jako jej autorskie wyobrażenie, tak bardzo indywidualny kształt ma realizacja dawnego wzorca. Historia wiersza litanijnego w literaturze hiszpańskiej nie została wystarczająco zbadana. O formie litanijnej („forma litánica”) pisał José Fradejas Lebrero, m. in. analizując wybrane utwory Juana Ramóna Jiméneza (La forma litánica en la poesía del siglo XX, „Revista Literaria” LVIII, 116, 1996), jednak warto zastosować bardziej ścisłe wyznaczniki litanii poetyckiej, jakimi wydają się wyżej wskazane geny i inne elementy jej poetyki. Kiedy więc wyznaczniki litanii są jedynie śladem dawnej tradycji, a kiedy wzbogacają gatunkowy obraz świata o nowe znaczenia? Czy same formuły, ślady genów gatunkowych, wystarczają, by zachować świeżość poetyckiej wypowiedzi? Jak często tradycja litanijna jest obecna tylko w postaci wyobrażenia o niej, indywidualnego i niepowtarzalnego śladu jej dawnej żywotności? Przedmiotem analizy będzie hiszpańska poezja pierwszych dekad XX wieku, m. in. Juana Ramóna Jiméneza, Vicente Aleixandre, Luisa Cernudy, Miguela Hernándeza.
6 Badania przeprowadzono w ramach grantu „Wiersz litanijny w kulturze regionów Europy”, finansowanego przez Narodowe Centrum Nauki.
104 Marta Zawichrowska Uniwersytet Kazimierza Wielkiego w Bydgoszczy
Marzenie senne bohatera jako ZNAK istnienia podświadomości (na podstawie dzieł Michaiła Bułhakowa i psychoanalizy Zygmunta Freuda)
Sny we współczesnym świecie stały się nie tylko zjawiskiem kulturowym, ale także psychologicznym. Bowiem bardzo często w sferę marzeń sennych wpisany jest ślad codzienności – sen jest światem w którym do głosu dochodzą ZNAKI i MYŚLI, które nie mają prawa bytu na jawie. W swoim wystąpieniu chciałabym potraktować sen jako ZNAK obecności MYŚLI ukrytych, które ujawniają się tylko we śnie. Swoje rozważania oprę na dwóch utworach tego twórcy – Białej Gwardii oraz Mistrzu i Małgorzacie. W obu przypadkach stan snu jest dla bohaterów czasem przejścia do innego świata, w którym panuje swoboda MYŚLI. Wykażę, że w przypadku bohaterów Białej Gwardii świat marzeń sennych jest ratunkiem przed okrucieństwem wojennej zawieruchy – ucieczką od brutalnej codzienności ZNAKIEM istnienia lepszego świata. Przedstawię także inną funkcję Bułhakowskiego snu – w oparciu o marzenie senne Nikanora Iwanowicza Bosego (bohatera Mistrza i Małgorzaty) pokażę że sen jest z jednej strony przedłużeniem wydarzeń minionego dnia, z drugiej zaś „miejscem” – bezpiecznym schronieniem ratującym przed głęboką traumą. Z funkcją snu jako ZNAKU istnienia podświadomości można się zetknąć nie tylko w twórczości Bułhakowa, ale także u „ojca psychoanalizy” – Zygmunta Freuda. W swoim wystąpieniu chciałabym przedstawić metaforę góry logowej, na postawie której dokonał on podziału MYŚLI człowieka. Udowodnię, że freudowska faza nieświadomości jest obecna także wśród bohaterów Bułhakowa – jest ona ZNAKIEM o różnorakim znaczeniu.
105 Bartosz Żukowski Uniwersytet Łódzki
Il n'y a pas de hors-texte... Semantyka intra-lingwistyczna i jej filozoficzno-lingwistyczne konsekwencje
Jednym z najważniejszych osiągnięć teoretycznych U. Eco w dziedzinie czystej semiotyki jest – przeprowadzona na kartach Teorii semiotyki – analiza formalnych własności semantyk intra- lingwistycznych. Cechą dystynktywną tego rodzaju systemów znaczeniowych jest odrzucenie tradycyjnej, realistycznej kategorii referencji, rozumianej jako korespondencja jednostek znaczących systemu z pozajęzykową dziedziną interpretacji (klasą pozajęzykowych korelatów semantycznych). W konsekwencji, uznając założenie referencji pozajęzykowej za „błąd odniesieniowy”, Ecowska semiotyka odrzuca także inny aksjomat realistycznej filozofii języka, zgodnie z którym znaczenie wyrażeń językowych (ich intensja) jest zdeterminowane extra-lingwistycznie, przez ekstensję – zbiór pozajęzykowych korelatów: realnych/empirycznych obiektów i stanów rzeczy/sytuacji. W rezultacie, sednem teorii Eco staje się postulat zastąpienia semantyki extra-lingwistycznej systemem intra-lingwistycznie zamkniętym, w którym zbiór korelatów semantycznych wyrażenia zawiera się w języku, do którego wyrażenie należy. Ogólny „przepis” na konstrukcję semantyki uniezależnionej od pozajęzykowej dziedziny interpretacji zasadza się na idei ufundowania znaczenia wyrażenia jako wypadkowej jego relacji z innymi wyrażeniami. W takim ujęciu, znaczenie określonego elementu systemu semantycznego wyznaczane jest wyłącznie przez całokształt relacji, w których pozostaje on z pozostałymi elementami systemu lub, co najmniej, z elementami bezpośrednio z nim powiązanymi. Ukształtowany w ten sposób język stanowi strukturę semantycznie autonomiczną, intra-lingwistycznie zamkniętą i samo-tłumaczącą się – brak w nim w szczególności jakichkolwiek wyrażeń brzegowych o charakterze deskrypcyjnym bądź obserwacyjnym. W efekcie, także wewnętrzny porządek systemu i ewentualna hierarchizacja składowych, w tym wyłonienie subsystemu centralnego, oparte są wyłącznie na kryteriach wewnętrznych. Głównym celem wystąpienia jest meta-teoretyczna analiza najważniejszych filozoficzno- lingwistycznych konsekwencji przyjęcia Ecowskiego modelu semantyki. Reinterpretacja jego idei w odpowiedniej aparaturze kategorialnej i poddanie ich rygorystycznej analizie formalnej umożliwi odsłonięcie nieoczekiwanych implikacji rozstrzygnięć Eco dla teorii znaczenia, koncepcji prawdy oraz kwestii kryteriów tożsamości jednostek znaczących.
106 LIST OF PARTICIPANTS
Paulina Ambroży: [email protected] José Manuel Rodríguez Amieva: [email protected] Mariola Antczak: [email protected] Maksymilian Bartoszewski: [email protected] Łukasz Berezowski: [email protected] Łukasz Berger : [email protected] Justyna Bernat: [email protected] Patrizia Bertini Malgarini: [email protected] Orazio Antonio Bologna: [email protected] Paolo Bosisio: [email protected] Małgorzata Budzowska: [email protected] Piotr Cap: [email protected] Stefano Carlucci: [email protected] Kamila Ciepiela: [email protected] Jadwiga Czerwińska: [email protected] Tomasz Dalasiński: [email protected] Marek Debnár : [email protected] Tomasz Dobrogoszcz: [email protected] Olimpia Dragouni: [email protected] Grażyna Dydel-Wróblewska: [email protected] Fabbri Paolo: [email protected] Michele Feliziani: [email protected] Michaela Fiserova: [email protected] Krzysztof Gajewski: [email protected] Justyna Galant: [email protected] Galofaro Francesco: [email protected] Artur Gałkowski: [email protected] Aleksander Gemel: [email protected] Christophe Geudens: [email protected]
107 Anna Gęsicka: [email protected] Eleonora Gironi Carnevale: [email protected] Anna Głodowska: [email protected] Giovanni Gobber: [email protected] Maja Gwóźdź: [email protected] Martin Hinton: [email protected] Piotr Jakubowski: [email protected] Agnieszka Janas: [email protected] Ziemowit Janiak: [email protected] Małgorzata Jankowska: [email protected] Borys Jastrzębski: [email protected] Dorota Jewdokimow: [email protected] Kamila Junik-Łaniewska: [email protected] Katarzyna Kaczmarczyk: [email protected] Tomasz Kaczmarek: [email protected] Armina Kapusta: [email protected] Anna Kapuścińska: [email protected] Michal Karl’a: [email protected] Kiljańska Barbara: [email protected] Marta Komsta: [email protected] Monika Kopytowska: [email protected] Gunther Kress: [email protected] Sergei Kruk: [email protected] Magdalena Maria Kubas: [email protected] Anna Kurska: [email protected] Svetlana Kurtes: [email protected] Alina Kwiatkowska : [email protected] Martina Labaiova: [email protected] Massimo Leone: [email protected] Katarzyna Lisowska: [email protected] Katarzyna Machtyl: [email protected]
108 Holly Maggiore: [email protected] Marina Maluli César: [email protected] Jason P Matzke: [email protected] Jason R. Nguyen: [email protected] Katarzyna Ojrzyńska: [email protected] Jakub Osiński: [email protected] Teresa Pac: [email protected] Roger David Phillips: [email protected] Pietrych Krystyna: [email protected] Jarosław Płuciennik: [email protected] Vít Pokorný: [email protected] Piero Polidoro: [email protected] Mauro Puddu: [email protected] Štěpán Pudlák: [email protected] Roksana Rał-Niemeczek: [email protected] Anastasia Remoundou-Howley: [email protected] Katarzyna Rogalska: [email protected] Joseph M. Romero: [email protected] Piotr Salwa: [email protected] Hanna Serkowska: [email protected] Michele Sità: [email protected] Sheila Skaff: [email protected] Rudolf Šrámek: [email protected] Starnawski Bartłomiej: [email protected] Frederik Stjernfelt: [email protected] Martin Švantner: [email protected] Ewa Szczęsna: [email protected] Aleksandra Szwagrzyk: [email protected] Urszula Terentowicz-Fotyga: [email protected] Hailong Tian: [email protected] Olga Tuszyńska-Szczepaniak: [email protected]
109 Gitana Vanagaitė: [email protected] Ugo Vignuzzi: [email protected] Patrizia Violi: [email protected] Ugo Volli: [email protected] Mingyu Wang: [email protected] Katarzyna Wasilewska: [email protected] Marta Woszczak: [email protected] Maria Judyta Woźniak: [email protected] Małgorzata Zadka: [email protected] Evripides Zantides: [email protected] Marta Zawichrowska: [email protected] Jordan Zlatev: [email protected] Bartosz Żukowski: [email protected]
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