Semiotic Mediation

Sociocultural and Psychological Perspectives

1st Edition - May 9, 1985
Editor: Elizabeth Mertz
Language: English
eBook ISBN:
9 7 8 - 1 - 4 8 3 2 - 8 8 8 6 - 4

Semiotic Mediation: Sociocultural and Psychological Perspectives provides the theoretical and empirical direction toward the synthesis of the subjective, developmental, or… Read more

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Semiotic Mediation: Sociocultural and Psychological Perspectives provides the theoretical and empirical direction toward the synthesis of the subjective, developmental, or cognitive aspects of semiotic processes in a psychological context, and the historical, institutional, and ideological grounding of sign systems in sociocultural contexts. The book is divided into three sections that show the theoretical rationale and empirical consequences of cross-disciplinary research into semiotic processes. Part I provides a comprehensive theoretical foundation, with analysis and exegesis of work on semiotic mediation by theorists such as Peirce, Vygotsky, Bakhtin, Whorf, Saussure, and Frege. Part II presents empirical case studies that range across the fields of developmental psychology, cultural anthropology, sociolinguistics, and history of religion. Linking together these diverse data bases and research methodologies are crosscutting concerns with four dimensions of semiotic mediation. The third part is a section comprised of commentaries on the organization and themes of metasemiotic representation. The concluding chapter sketches the philosophical history of the notion of semiotic mediation and then synthesizes the volume's empirical studies in terms of directions for future research. Anthropologists, psycholinguists, psychosociologists, and linguistics experts will find the book invaluable.

Contributors

Preface

Acknowledgments

1. Beyond Symbolic Anthropology: Introducing Semiotic Mediation

Introduction

Fundamental Semiotic Concepts

Four Traditions in Semiotic Studies: Four Theories of Semiotic Mediation

Conclusion: An Integrative Approach

Notes

References

Part I Theoretical Approaches to Semiotic Mediation

2. Signs' Place in Medias Res: Peirce's Concept of Semiotic Mediation

Editors' Introduction

Introduction

The Fundamental Model of Semiotic Mediation

Semiotic Mediation and the Correlates of the Sign

Thirdness as Mediation

Sign as Medium of Communication

Notes

References

3. The Semiotic Mediation of Mental Life: L. S. Vygotsky and M. M. Bakhtin

Editors' Introduction

Introduction

Properties of Mediational Means

Decontextualized Semiotic Mediation

Contextualized Semiotic Mediation

Inner Speech

Revising Vygotsky's Approach in Light of Bakhtin

Conclusion

Notes

References

4. Whorf's View of the Linguistic Mediation of Thought

Editors' Introduction

Introduction

The Linguistic Analysis of Experience

The Influence of Languages on Thought

Assessment of Whorf's Views

Notes

References

5. Peirce, Frege, Saussure, and Whorf: The Semiotic Mediation of Ontology

Editors' Introduction

Introduction

Peirce

Frege

Saussure

A Comparison: Saussure, Peirce, and Frege

Whorf

Performativity, Mind-Body Dualism, and Mental Events

Conclusion

Notes

References

Part II Case Studies in Semiotic Mediation

6. Times of the Signs: Modalities of History and Levels of Social Structure in Belau

Editors' Introduction

From Metahistory to Ethnohistory

Dynamic Stability of Village Stones

Grave Pavements and Houses

Personal Paths and Money Exchanges

Recapitulation and Ethnographic Conclusions

Comparative Coda on Historicizing Signs: Ashanti and Tahiti

History as Semiotic Mediation

Notes

References

7. Parallelism and Framing Devices in a Late Antique Ascent Text

Editors' Introduction

The Efficacy of Ritual Language

The Maaseh Merkabah Ascent Text

Formulaic Parallelism and Pragmatic Extension

The Sounds of Magical Words

Dialogic Frame and Reported Speech: Teaching as Experiencing

Semantics and Pragmatics of Ritual Texts

Notes

References

8. Metapragmatics in Child Language

Editors' Introduction

Introduction

Language and Metalanguage

Metapragmatics and Reported Speech

The Forms and Functions of Quotations

Children's "Awareness" of Language

Reported Speech in Children's Narrative Discourse

Pragmatics and Metapragmatics in Child Development

Notes

References

9. Text, Schooling, and the Growth of Mind

Editors' Introduction

Literacy and Schooling

Functional Differentiation of Language

Text and the Written Language Norms

Implications for Cognitive Development

Note

References

10. Language and the Culture of Gender: At the Intersection of Structure, Usage, and Ideology

Editors' Introduction

Introduction

Gender as a Category of Reference and Predication

Indexing Participant Gender in Communication

Gender and Statistical Indexes of Social Stratification

A Parallel: Personal Deictics in English

Indexical/Referential Ideological Metaphors and Prescriptions for Reform

References

11. Legal Ideology and Linguistic Theory: Variability and Its Limits

Editors' Introduction

Introduction

A Semiotic Foundation

Two Legal Theories: The Legal Realists and H. L. A. Hart

Trends in Anglo-American Legal and Linguistic Ideologies

Ideology and Practice: A Semiotic Perspective

Notes

References

12. On the Nature of the Sociolinguistic Sign: Describing the Javanese Speech Levels

Editors' Introduction

Introduction

Structure and Function of the Javanese Speech Levels

The Speech Levels in Use

Comparing Sociolinguistic Models

Semiotics, Pragmatic Salience, and the Linguistic Sign

Notes

References

13. The Semiotics of Two Speech Styles in Shokleng

Editors' Introduction

Introduction to the Study of Speech Styles

Markedness and Speech Styles

Shokleng Ritual Wailing

Shokleng Origin-Myth Telling

Evaluation of Hypothesis on Markedness Relations

The Linguistico-Cultural Matrix

Conclusion

Notes

References

Part III Metacommentaries on Semiotic Mediation

14. Mead's Mediations: Some Semiotics from the Sepik, by Way of Bateson, on to Bali

Introduction

Like Literature, Like Culture

Who Did What to Whom . . .

Across Cultures and Husbands

OK, "Meadiations"

Concluding Indeterminant Questions

Notes

References

15. Semiotic Mediation: Ancestral Genealogy and Final Interpretant

Introduction

Revolt Against Experiential Determinism

Revolt Against Transcendental Universalism

Revolt Against Semiotic Transparency

Final Interpretant of Semiotic Mediation

Notes

References

Index