Home New approaches to plastic language: Prolegomena to a computer-aided approach to pictorial semiotics
Article
Licensed
Unlicensed Requires Authentication

New approaches to plastic language: Prolegomena to a computer-aided approach to pictorial semiotics

  • Everardo Reyes EMAIL logo and Göran Sonesson
Published/Copyright: August 28, 2019

Abstract

In this paper we summarize observations bridging the declared aspirations of pictorial semiotics and its real achievements. Pictorial semiotics is here understood as the general study of pictures as signs and it constituted a fundamental step beyond the art historical captivation with individual images. In the first part of our contribution we present a review of the most important methods that have been proposed as an answer to deal with several pictorial problems (multiple instances, segmentation, non-figurative meaning). In the second part, we offer some positive and on-going implementations designed to remedy the shortcomings observed. What is suggested is the proof of concept that human researchers need the assistance of computing methodologies. However, computers can only do their job once an adequate phenomenology of human experience is fed into the process.

References

Barthes, R. 1964. Rhétorique de l’image. Communications 4. 40–51.10.3406/comm.1964.1027Search in Google Scholar

Chen, C.-Y., D. Jayaraman, F. Sha & K. Grauman. 2017. Divide, share, and conquer: Multi-task attribute learning with selective sharing. In R. S. Feris, C. Lampert & D. Parikh (eds.), Visual attributes, 50–85. Cham: Springer.10.1007/978-3-319-50077-5_4Search in Google Scholar

Del Bimbo, A. 1999. Visual information retrieval. San Francisco: Morgan Kaufmann.Search in Google Scholar

Deledalle, G. 1979. Théorie et pratique du signe. Paris: Payot.Search in Google Scholar

DeLoache, J. 2004. Becoming symbol-minded. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 8(2). 66–70.10.1016/j.tics.2003.12.004Search in Google Scholar

Eco, U. 1976. A theory of semiotics. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.10.1007/978-1-349-15849-2Search in Google Scholar

Floch, J.-M. 1978. Roland Barthes: “Sémiotique de l’image”. Bulletin du Groupe de Recherches Sémio-linguistiques 4(5). 27–32.Search in Google Scholar

Floch, J.-M. 1981. Kandinsky: Sémiotique d’un discours plastique non-figuratif. Communications 34. 134–158.10.3406/comm.1981.1511Search in Google Scholar

Floch, J.-M. 1984. Petites mythologies de l’oeil et l’esprit. Paris: Hadès.10.1075/as.1Search in Google Scholar

Floch, J.-M. 1986. Les formes de l’empreinte. Périgueux: Pierre Fanlac.Search in Google Scholar

Floch, J.-M. 1990. Sémiotique, marketing et communication. Paris: PUF.Search in Google Scholar

Gonzalez, R. & R. Woods. 2008. Digital image processing. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.Search in Google Scholar

Greimas, A. & J. Courtés. 1979. Sémiotique: Dictionnaire raisonné de la théorie du langage. Paris: Hachette.Search in Google Scholar

Groupe µ. 1992. Traité du signe visuel. Paris: Seuil.Search in Google Scholar

Groys, B. 2016. In the flow. London: Verso.Search in Google Scholar

Hribar, A., G. Sonesson & J. Call. 2014. From sign to action: Studies in chimpanzee pictorial competence. Semiotica 198(1/4). 205–240.10.1515/sem-2013-0108Search in Google Scholar

Jappy, T. 2010. Introduction to Peircean visual semiotics. London: Bloomsbury.Search in Google Scholar

Kirsch, J. & R. Kirsch. 1988. The anatomy of painting style: description with computer rules. Leonardo 21(4). 437–444.10.2307/1578708Search in Google Scholar

Krampen, M. (ed.). 1983. Visuelle kommunikation und/oder verbale kommunikation. Hildesheim & Berlin: Olms Verlag/Hochschule der Kiinste.Search in Google Scholar

Lenninger, S. 2012. When similarity qualifies as a sign: A study in picture understanding and semiotic development in young children. PhD dissertation, Lund University.Search in Google Scholar

Lindekens, R. 1976. Éléments de sémiotique visuelle. Paris: Klincksieck.Search in Google Scholar

Manovich, L. 2011. What is visualization? Visual Studies 26(1). 36–49.10.1080/1472586X.2011.548488Search in Google Scholar

Müller, W., T. Nocke & H. Schumann. 2006. Enhancing the visualization process with principal component analysis to support the exploration of trends. In Asia-Pacific Symposium on Information Visualization (APVIS’06), 121–130. Darlinghurst: Australian Computer Society.Search in Google Scholar

Parker, J. R. 2011. Algorithms for image processing and computer vision. Indianapolis: Wiley.Search in Google Scholar

Russ, J. 2011. The image processing handbook. Boca Raton: CRC.Search in Google Scholar

Sonesson, G. 1988. Methods and models in pictorial semiotics. Lund: Lund University.Search in Google Scholar

Sonesson, G. 1989a. Pictorial concepts. Lund: Lund University Press.Search in Google Scholar

Sonesson, G. 1989b. Semiotics of photography: On tracing the index. Lund: Lund University.Search in Google Scholar

Sonesson, G. 1994. Les rondeurs secrètes de la ligne droite: A propos de “Sans titre” de Rothko. Les Nouveaux Actes Sémiotiques 34–35. 41–76.Search in Google Scholar

Sonesson, G. 2010. Pictorial semiotics. In T. Sebeok & M. Danesi (eds.), Encyclopedic dictionary of semiotics. Berlin: Mouton. https://www.degruyter.com/view/EDS/pictorial_semiotics (accessed 26 August 2019).Search in Google Scholar

Sonesson, G. 2011. La rhétorique des transformations homogènes. In T. Migliore (ed.), Retorica del visibili, 309–320. Rome: Aracne.Search in Google Scholar

Sonesson, G. 2014. The psychology and semiotics of the picture sign. In D. Machin (ed.), Handbook of visual communication, 23–50. Berlin: DeGruyter.10.1515/9783110255492.23Search in Google Scholar

Sonesson, G. & S. Lenninger. 2015. The psychological development of semiotic competence: From the window to the movie by way of the mirror. Cognitive Development 36. 191–201.10.1016/j.cogdev.2015.09.007Search in Google Scholar

Thürleman, F. 1982. Paul Klee: Analyse sémiotique de trois peintures. Lausanne: L’age de l’homme.Search in Google Scholar

Thürleman, F. 1990. Vom bild zum raum. Köln: DuMont.Search in Google Scholar

Zlatev, J., A. Madsen, S. Lenninger, T. Persson, S. Sayehli, G. Sonesson & J. van de Weijer. 2013. Understanding communicative intentions and semiotic vehicles by children and chimpanzees. Cognitive Development 28. 312–329.10.1016/j.cogdev.2013.05.001Search in Google Scholar

Published Online: 2019-08-28
Published in Print: 2019-10-25

© 2019 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Introduction to Meaningful data/Données signifiantes
  3. A data-driven computational semiotics: The semantic vector space of Magritte’s artworks
  4. New approaches to plastic language: Prolegomena to a computer-aided approach to pictorial semiotics
  5. Mesures et savoirs : Quelles méthodes pour l’histoire culturelle à l’heure du big data ?
  6. Visual semiotics and automatic analysis of images from the Cultural Analytics Lab: How can quantitative and qualitative analysis be combined?
  7. Uncertain infographics: Expressing doubt in data visualization
  8. Quelques expériences pour développer l’expression de sens en cartographie thématique
  9. Raw data or hypersymbols? Meaning-making with digital data, between discursive processes and machinic procedures
  10. Differential heterogenesis and the emergence of semiotic function
  11. Regular Articles
  12. Semiotic alignment: Towards a dialogical model of interspecific communication
  13. Modal functioning of rhetorical resources in selected multimodal cartoons
  14. The mission of the Chinese puzzle: From a quest for order to seeking entertainment
  15. Memes, genes, and signs: Semiotics in the conceptual interface of evolutionary biology and memetics
  16. Formalisation sémiotique de la traduction : Le modèle transformationnel d’Alexandre Ljudskanov
  17. Glossopoesis in Thomas More’s Utopia: Beyond a representation of foreignness
  18. Playing peripatos: Creativity and abductive inference in religion, art and war
  19. Borders and translation: Revisiting Juri Lotman’s semiosphere
  20. Peirce’s philosophy of communication and language communication
  21. Mythic symbolic type, utopia, and body without organs
  22. The contribution of narrative semiotics of experiential imaginary to the ideation of new digital customer experiences
  23. Transference of brand personality in brand name translation: A case study on the Chinese-English translation of men’s clothing brands
  24. Intertextuality as a strategy of glocalization: A comparative study of Nike’s and Adidas’s 2008 advertising campaigns in China
  25. The semiotic web of the research proposal
  26. Sic vita est: Visual representation in painting of the conceptual metaphor LIFE IS A JOURNEY
Downloaded on 24.9.2025 from https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/sem-2018-0106/html
Scroll to top button