Volume 2019, Issue 230 - Special Section: Meaningful data/Données signifiantes, Guest Editors: Dario Compagno and Matteo Treleani

The rise of big digital data is changing the framework within which linguists, sociologists, anthropologists, and other researchers are working. Semiotics is not spared by this paradigm shift. A data-driven computational semiotics is the study with an intensive use of computational methods of patterns in human-created contents related to semiotic phenomena. One of the most promising frameworks in this research program is the Semantic Vector Space (SVS) models and their methods. The objective of this article is to contribute to the exploration of the SVS for a computational semiotics by showing what types of semiotic analysis can be accomplished within this framework. The study is applied to a unique body of digitized artworks. We conducted three short experiments in which we explore three types of semiotic analysis: paradigmatic analysis, componential analysis, and topic modelling analysis. The results reported show that the SVS constitutes a powerful framework within which various types of semiotic analysis can be carried out.

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.

Résumé  L’analyse quantitative de l’histoire culturelle a été ouverte par la mise à disposition de corpus de masse tel que celui de Google fbooks (500 milliards de mots, 5 millions d’ouvrages, soit environ 4% de la littérature mondiale) et a été popularisé sous le nom de « culturonomics ». Elle s’ouvre désormais aux chercheurs, en promettant un accès profond aux faits culturels et à leurs évolutions qui affleurent à travers leurs traces textuelles dans les corpus textuelles numérisées. Encore faut-il pouvoir interroger ces corpus dont la taille et la nature posent des problèmes scientifiques nouveaux, leur dimension les rendant illisibles directement et mettant échec les méthodes de fouille et les outils traditionnels d’analyse statistique des données en imposant des méthodes statistiques nouvelles et le saut vers des formes d’intelligence visuelles originales. Dans le cadre d’un projet mené entre le Labex « Obvil » de Paris-Sorbonne et le Literary Lab de Stanford sur l’histoire de l’idée de littéraire (la définition de la littérature comme mot, comme concept et comme champ), et visant à produire une histoire empirique de la littérature, nous avons mené depuis deux ans des expériences de fouille d’un corpus de critique littéraire de 1618 titres, 140 millions de mots (dont plus de 50 000 occurrences du lemme « littérature ») de la fin de l’Ancien Régime à la Seconde Guerre mondiale. En présentant des exemples développés dans cette première expérimentation à grande échelle de mesure de l’histoire des idées, on présentera les méthodes de text mining contemporaines en essayant d’éprouver leur pertinence heuristique et de leur capacité à faire remonter des données signifiantes pour l’histoire et la théorie littéraire. On fera l’hypothèse que toute enquête quantitative sérieuse mobilise désormais non une échelle intermédiaire standard et immédiatement lisible, mais le maniement d’outils statistiques dont l’interprétation en sciences humaines pose des problèmes particuliers qui, paradoxalement, ne peuvent être résolus que par leur articulation étroite à du close reading et à des mesures fines.

In this article we explore the relationship between semiotic analysis of images and quantitative analysis of vast image corpora, in particular the work produced by Lev Manovich and the Cultural Analytics Lab, called “Media Visualization.” Media Visualization has been chosen as corpus because of its metavisual operation (images are visualized and analyzed by images) and its innovating way of conceiving analysis: by visual instruments. In this paper semiotics is used as an approach to Media Visualization and taken as an object of study as well, especially visual semiotics. In this sense, a comparison between visual semiotics (close reading of small corpora) and quantitative analyses of images (distant reading of vast collections) are conducted from a semiotic point of view. Post-Greimassian semiotics guides this study with respect to the issue of the image-within-an-image and metavisual visualization; Peircean semiotics is employed to explain and develop the notion of diagram.

The myth of transparency and truthfulness is the foundation for contemporary theories of information design. Avoiding distortion and ambiguity is the moral imperative of an upstanding data visualizer. Sometimes, though, data that is collected is not accurate enough and the sources use indirect indicators to approach a phenomenon: what to do then, if the need to graphically represent a phenomenon is urgent and necessary? Should the designer wait to have the exact data, or should he indicate a trend, expressing the hypothetical status of his statement? Can data visualization be designed to express doubt rather than to inform about facts? This essay will deal with the forms of expression of uncertainty in infographics. It will consider the designer as both an observer and a translator, whose position of neutrality is only one of the possible realms of discourse. In general, it will focus on the forms of visual expression of a self-criticizing mood in quantitative research today and it will explore the ways in which data that is not meaningful in statistical terms can become meaningful in semiotic terms.

Abstract  La cartographie thématique vise à produire des représentations visuelles de données comportant une dimension spatiale. Structurée dans les années 1970 selon une approche explicitement sémiotique, elle s’est peu à peu détachée des recherches dans ce domaine pour se stabiliser autour de pratiques largement standardisées. Ce constat, et celui de l’écart avec ce que peut produire une approche plus artistique par des infographistes, a motivé une recherche d’outils accessibles pour aider à comprendre cette sémiose. On a tout d’abord cherché à saisir la complexité des images cartographiques pour tenter d’en simplifier leur perception et interprétation. Les outils d’analyse de l’attention visuelle ont apporté des résultats encourageants. Ensuite, on s’est intéressés à la couleur : comment découvrir des compositions colorées plus expressives ? Dans la peinture ? On a ensuite cherché à assister la composition de dégradés de couleurs tirés de sources picturales. Ces idées ont pu être mises en pratique et évaluées grâce au support Internet : il est possible de proposer des traitements complexes de manière accessible et rapide. Ces outils sont décrits sur un carnet de recherche Hypothèses.org, tout en ouvrant le code source. Cela pourrait ouvrir la voie à une étude plus poussée des capacités expressives des signes plastiques utilisés en infographie.

The large-scale and intensive collection and analysis of digital data (commonly called “Big Data”) has become a common, popular, and consensual research method for the social sciences, as the automation of data collection, mathematization of analysis, and digital objectification reinforce both its efficiency and truth-value. This article opens with a critical review of the literature on data collection and analysis, and summarizes current ethical discussions focusing on these technologies. A semiotic model of data production and circulation is then introduced to problematize the view that digital data has ceased to stand for a formalization method (a possible kind of representation among others), and effectively “becomes the world itself” (a direct presentation of the world outperforming all other modes of representation). Following Charles Sanders Peirce’s semiotics and pragmaticist philosophy, we characterize digitalization as a hypersymbolic semiotic process, and we highlight the naturalization of meaning, the illusion of iconicity, and rhetorical efficiency on which data’s truth value relies within the context of its large-scale, profit-driven, and results-oriented research uses. This outlines some epistemological and ethical implications of data’s visualization, use, and authority, and indicates avenues for critical semiotics of contemporary data science and analysis.

In this study, we analyse the notion of “differential heterogenesis” proposed by Deleuze and Guattari on a morphogenetic perspective. We propose a mathematical framework to envisage the emergence of singular forms from the assemblages of heterogeneous operators. In opposition to the kind of differential calculus that is usually adopted in mathematical-physical modelling, which tends to assume a homogeneous differential equation applied to an entire homogeneous region, heterogenesis allows differential constraints of qualitatively different kinds in different points of space and time. These constraints can then change in time, opening the possibility for new kinds of differential dynamics and the emergence of distinct entities and forms. Formally, we show that operators with different phase spaces can be assembled on the basis of a result of Rothschild & Stein (1976. Hypoelliptic differential operators and nilpotent groups. Acta Mathematica 137. 247–320). Furthermore, operators with different dynamics can be assembled by means of a partition of the unit. After stating the concept of differential heterogenesis in terms of contemporary mathematics, we show that this construction sheds light on the constitution of the semiotic function. In fact, both the Merleau-Pontian and the Deleuzian approaches share a common conceptualisation of the semiotic function and its emergence in terms of a morphodynamics of heterogeneous assemblages with a divergent actualisation . This divergent actualisation allows the co-constitution of various expression and content planes. Finally, we show that the divergent actualisation can be interpreted as the directions of principal eigenvectors of the actualized flow.

Communicative interactions across different species have so far received relatively little attention from cognitive or behavioral scientists. Most research in this area views the process of communication as the adaptive interaction of manipulative signalers and information-assessing receivers. This paper discusses some shortcomings of the information/influence model of communication, particularly in the empirical study of interspecific communicative interactions. It then presents an alternative theoretical model, based on recent contributions in psycholinguistics and semiotics. The semiotic alignment model views communication as a dynamic process of joint semiosis resulting in the alignment of the interactants’ own-worlds ( Umwelten ). It is argued that this model can improve our understanding of communicative interactions between heterospecifics and provide the basis for future work in the empirical study of interspecific communication.

Firstly, this paper aims to analyze how verbal and visual modes contribute to build two basic components of cartoons: the referenced situation and the fictional situation. Secondly, it aims to unravel the semiotics of this discursive genre by offering a fine-grained picture of modal variations and continuities of the rhetorical resources deployed, by means of which the fictional situation is displayed. The corpus is composed of 50 multimodal cartoons chosen by cartoonists of 22 nationalities as the most representative of their work in the frame of a wide questionnaire. Category analysis and non-parametric statistics were applied. We identified and fleshed out four different types of modal functioning of resources: visual preference, verbal preference, modal flexibility, and genuine multimodal functioning. Even if visual and multimodal metaphor were often in charge of transferring meaning from fiction to the referenced situation, results show that other resources such as antithesis, irony, and syllepsis can become the key resources of cartoons. Findings highlight the multilayered functioning of cartoons, among which plastic features can play a significant role, and provide further evidence in favor of the hyperdetermination of humor hypothesis proposed by Attardo.

The puzzle has played a significant role in Chinese culture since its formation. The Lo-shu and the Ba-gua , the most prominent number puzzle in ancient China, with its instinctual quest for universal order, has constructed a philosophical system that has incorporated human being as an integral part of nature. The system has exerted great influence on Chinese culture to this day. Because of its mysterious origin and magical evolution, the Ba-gua has been used to predict the fortune of both the nation and the individual. The Chinese character-deconstructing puzzle has also functioned as a foreshadow of one’s fate. By analyzing the components of a character, written by the subject in a specific context, divination was made. In contrast to the solemn mission of the number puzzle, and the character-deconstructing puzzle, the wedding puzzle and the riddle are lighthearted, and intended to provoke humor, and to function pedagogically. A latecomer, once the mysteriousness of number and character has faded, the riddle is used to promote the intellectual development of children. The wedding puzzle has been popular among those who are illiterate and make analogy by using common occurrence to allude to taboo in the oral dialect. Since their illiteracy has excluded them from reading and writing, they are free to make puzzles in their own dialect without being limited by a reverence for the written character.

In 1976, Richard Dawkins coined the term meme as a way to metaphorically project bio-evolutionary principles upon the processes of cultural and social development. The works of Dawkins and of some other enthusiasts had contributed to a rise in popularity of the concept of memetics (“study of memes”), but the interest to this new field started to decline quite soon. The conceptual apparatus of memetics was based on a number of quasi-biological terms, but the emerging discipline failed to go beyond those initial metaphors. This article is an attempt to rebuild the toolkit of memetics with the help of the more fundamental concepts taken from semiotics and to propose a synthetic conceptual framework connecting genetics and memetics, in which semiotics is used as the transdisciplinary methodology for both disciplines. The concept of sign is used as the meta-lingual equivalent for both the concepts of gene and meme. In the most general understanding, sign is a thing which stands for another thing. In genetics, this translates into gene that is a section of DNA that stands for the algorithm of how a particular biomolecule is built. In memetics, the similar principle works in meme that is a thing that stands for the rules of how a particular cultural practice is performed.

Résumé  Cet article examine la formalisation sémiotique de la traduction, proposée par Alexandre Ljudskanov, à travers la confrontation de son modèle avec celui de l’École de Leipzig. Alors que les allemands Kade et Neubert ne quittent pas le champ de la Translationslinguistik, le traductologue bulgare s’applique à mettre en œuvre une sémiotique du processus traductif. En partant de la prémisse que toute information n’existe que sous forme de code, il définit la traduction comme un échange communicatif entre deux systèmes sémiotiques, qui demande forcément une médiation sémiotique de nature cognitive. Le modèle de Ljudskanov implique le décodage et l’encodage. Ces deux phases supposent la transformation des signes d’un code à l’autre de sorte à préserver l’information portée par le message. L’information invariante est transmise par des équivalents fonctionnels dont la pertinence et le principe de fonctionnement seront illustrés par des exemples de proverbes, d’aphorismes, d’expressions idiomatiques et leur traduction en plusieurs langues.

This paper demonstrates the premise that the Utopian language created for the narrative is more than something that only gives the impression of foreignness to the invented nation of Utopia, a mere representation of an outside culture. It is rather a semiotic system devised by the author specifically with the goal of transmitting a message. As such it is indispensable to a fuller understanding of More’s work, and therefore worthy of proper investigation. Consequently, the paper analyses the occurrences of the invented language throughout the author’s text and out of it, in Peter Giles’s writings, word by word, tracing the probable etymologies and meanings, comparing cognate or correlated words in other languages, while conciliating the use of the glossopoeia with the presumptions of semiotics. Some theorists and commentators contribute considerably to the present discussion: Culler (1981. The pursuit of signs . London: Routledge, Romm), James (1991. More’s strategy of naming in the Utopia. Sixteenth Century Journal 22(2). 173–183), Sacks (1999. Introduction to Thomas More’s Utopia. In Utopia. Boston: Bedford/St Martin’s), as well as More’s and Peter Giles’s own elicitations. The result of such reflections is a theory on the critique of the names and the artificial words coined by Thomas More.

Peirce proposed the concept of abductive inference to inquire into the generation of new hypotheses and defined it as another term for pragmatism, no less (Admitting, then, that the question of Pragmatism is the question of Abduction, let us consider it under that form. What is good abduction? What should an explanatory hypothesis be to be worthy to rank as a hypothesis? Of course, it must explain the facts. But what other conditions ought it to fulfill to be good? The question of the goodness of anything is whether that thing fulfills its end. What, then, is the end of an explanatory hypothesis? Its end is, through subjection to the test of experiment, to lead to the avoidance of all surprise and to the establishment of a habit of positive expectation that shall not be disappointed (Peirce. 1931–1966. The collected papers of Charles S. Peirce , 8 vols., C. Hartshorne, P. Weiss & A. W. Burks (eds.). Cambridge: Harvard University Press. 5.197)). Apart from being linked to the vague idea of the play of musement as an almost dreamlike process of epiphany or inspiration or as an inverted minor premise from a syllogism, we are far from understanding the dynamics and specificity of this kind of inference. Among authors dealing with this problem I could trace three factors at work in processes of abduction, i.e. combination, resemblance, and dialetics or questioning. In this paper I attempt to look a bit further into this enigma by a category of play I defined as “peripatos” or games of invention, riddles, and puzzles, hoping it could shed some light on the process of creativity in several social activities such as science, art, war, and religion. The approach will take on Huizinga’s idea of the play of culture, Lakoff and Johnson’s conception of cross-domain correlations, Kant’s view of “aesthetic ideas,” and my proposal of the play of peripatos through a “what if-as if” coupling into this very common yet little understood, and thus mystified, process of the generation of innovative ideas.

In the framework of the theory of the semiosphere elaborated by Juri Lotman in the 1980s, the notion of translation acquires a new, broadened meaning and is used to describe a general mechanism of cultural dynamics. This is a direct consequence of the understanding of the semiosphere as a “continuum of semiotic systems” of which heterogeneity and polyglotism are constitutive features. If the “smallest functioning semiotic mechanism” is not an isolated system, but always a (at least) binary system, translation will play a central role in communication not only between different cultures, but also within every single culture. The article focuses on the different places of translation within the semiosphere as a system of systems and its relations to the notion of border. It argues that in Lotman’s theory, translation can function both as a homogenizing and a heterogenizing semiotic force, depending on its position at the center or the periphery of a given semiotic system. The first part of the article develops a theoretical argument on the relation between translation processes and cultural borders, which acquire different meanings and functions within Lotman’s theory of the semiosphere corresponding to differently oriented kinds of translation. The second part of the article develops a close analysis of Giacomo Leopardi’s poem “L’Infinito,” where the tension and dialogue between the different functions of the Lotmanian borders and the different kinds of cultural translation become devices for the generation of new meanings. Finally, the article briefly considers the significance of Lotman’s semiospheric understanding of the relation between borders and translation for contemporary translation and border studies.

In the vein of Peirce’s communication philosophy, language communication inevitably suffers from its vagueness and uncertainty. Paradoxically, what enables this vagueness and uncertainty to be solved, and the condition of communication to be sufficiently met, is not language itself, but “collateral experience” communicators may weave, exchange, and share in communication. Collateral experience is forceful in penetrating the “universe,” in which communicators may be engaged, and in helping them in the wake of communication to acquire knowledge current in the community. Consequently, generality for a communicative act becomes established as the final goal of communication. Generality overcomes the vagueness and uncertainty arising from local and partial contingencies of context, and transcends beyond it. Due to communication, people become capable of finally resolving puzzlement, and of establishing their beliefs, with a guidance for their action.

A mythic symbolic type is a binary-structured, gender-oriented cultural mask. Whoever enters it will never exit and will behave according to the mask’s logic. The article focuses on the men of the semi-commune Little Home trapped in the mask. It will examine this cultural structure’s organization of binary-opposition in a unique kind of intensity, I called “masculine waves.” In the final part, a discussion will be presented in the context of Deleuze’s Becoming and Bloch’s utopia.

Innovating new experiences is an innovation strategy that increases product differentiation and the perceived value of offers for future autonomous cars. Young Chinese customers are a relevant target group of lead users to co-create those experiences. We address the co-creation of memorable and engaging experiences with targeted potential users and the building of the meaning of experiential imaginary that results from innovations (based on digital media) echoing the need for sensory atmospherics while strolling in the city. We aim at understanding how customers can co-create meaningful experiences. We analyze the narrative structures of the experiential imaginaries, considering the narratives as a major component of ambiance experiences and imaginary. With an empirical approach that associates projective techniques to semiotic analysis of the corresponding narratives, we describe the structural system of the experiential imaginary of young Chinese customers when imagining driving in the city in tomorrow’s cars. Semiotics offers a novel contribution to innovation marketing and idea generation of experiential innovations. This theoretical stance valorizes the outside-in paradigm of future lead-users as co-creators of innovative experiences, whose imaginary narratives are raw materials for creativity. This approach is an alternative to brainstorming and its limits for creating disruptive innovations.

Brand names are endowed with personalities that appeal to consumers, and such personalities are often adjusted in translation. This research aims to explore the transference of brand personality dimensions in the Chinese-English translation of men’s clothing brands, which embody consumers’ values and self-perceptions as well as social cultural meanings, in the hope of revealing male consumers’ psychological characteristics and providing a reference for translators. This investigation studies the brand personality frameworks for English and Chinese consumers, analyzes a corpus of 477 Chinese-English men’s clothing brands, summarizes the major personality dimensions for men’s clothing brands, and explores how they are transferred in translation. As brand personalities reflect target consumers’ psychology to a certain extent, exploring the transference of brand personality dimensions in the Chinese-English translation of men’s clothing brands can reveal the differences between Chinese and English male consumers’ values and mentality, which can serve as a reference for translators and international businesses.

This paper examines within the theoretical framework of intertextuality the mobilization of glocalization as an international marketing strategy in Nike’s and Adidas’s 2008 advertising campaigns in China. Intertextuality is seen as a form of mediation through which the glocalization strategy conducted within the domain of global marking is taken up in the domain of advertising communication. The paper also assumes the interrelations of intertextual performance to value orientations and group affiliations. By analyzing intertextuality in relation to affinity groups, it aims to resolve to some extent the conundrum of Nike’s more successful than Adidas in the sportswear market of China in a social-semiotic perspective. Two print ads constituting a representative example of the corpus were selected for a qualitative analysis. The comparative analysis of intertextuality reveals the contrasting methods of glocalization applied by Nike and Adidas in their 2008 advertising campaigns, thus offering an explanation for Nike’s triumph in competition with Adidas in China.

Signs in the early stages of research (e.g. pathways, thoughts/ideas, and structured feedback) form a web that we call the semiotic web of the research proposal . This web is based on the unlimited semiosis of signs, the semiotic square of education, and the semiotic web of law. We start weaving this web by formulating a raw thought and a number of research ideas. Βy travelling various pathways, we develop patterns of thinking which in turn lead to several potential research proposals, one of which will become the chosen research proposal. We use the concept “semiotics of education” as our theoretical base for a heuristic tool, the semiotic web of the research proposal, to explore an aspect of educational research methodologies. Recognizing that overcoming habitual dualisms is a distinguishing feature of the semiotics of education, we open up the discussion about the extent to which the research proposal should be an integral part of the main supervision process and explore some of the possibilities surrounding this goal. The study highlights the evidence arising from a lifelong distance-learning programme in research proposal development and provides illustrative examples of the way in which educational principles have been translated into practice in a Greek university. This article is based on our presentation “The semiotic web of the research proposal” delivered at the conference Semiosis in Communication – Knowing and Learning , Bucharest, June 16–18, 2016.

This article analyzes how the conceptualization LIFE IS A JOURNEY is conveyed within a series of paintings ranging from the fifteenth century to the twentieth century. While the previous research on visual metaphor generally aims to describe how the domains of metaphorical conceptualization interact or discusses the rhetorical effect that visual metaphor is able to induce, this article takes a historical perspective in order to identify the main conceptual aspects shared by the paintings under consideration. It is proposed that the concept of a JOURNEY is associated with a PURPOSIVE ACTIVITY that involves the start of the journey and its termination as two qualitatively different moments that are faced as a collective/shared experience and that are inspired by some human wish. This article also shows how the conceptual potential of metaphor tends to maintain a coherent representation although the paintings represent different historical sensitivities and artistic approaches.