Semiotic interpretations of biological mimicry
-
Timo Maran
His research interests include theory of biological mimicry, imitation, deception, and animal communication. His recent publications include ‘Mimicry: Towards a semiotic understanding of nature’ (2001); ‘Ecosemiotic basis of locality’ (2002); ‘Mimesis as a phenomenon of semiotic communication’ (2003); and ‘Gardens and gardening: An ecosemiotic view’ (2004).
Abstract
This article presents different semiotic perspectives on biological mimicry, which is considered to be a communicative system consisting of a mimic, a model, and a signal-receiver. Proceeding from the writings of Thomas A. Sebeok, the activity of the mimic and the relationship between mimicry and iconicity are analyzed. From the signal-receiver's perspective, mimicry is described as a probable mistake in recognition and it is characterized by the notion of ambivalent sign. Ambivalent sign is a stable sign structure fiuctuating between one and two signs. On the basis of Jakob von Uexküll's works, mimicry resemblance is described as taking place in animal Umwelten. From this semiotic viewpoint, various examples of abstract resemblance in nature are regarded as ‘resemblance with meaning’ and an alternative explanation to the concept of abstract mimicry is presented.
About the author
His research interests include theory of biological mimicry, imitation, deception, and animal communication. His recent publications include ‘Mimicry: Towards a semiotic understanding of nature’ (2001); ‘Ecosemiotic basis of locality’ (2002); ‘Mimesis as a phenomenon of semiotic communication’ (2003); and ‘Gardens and gardening: An ecosemiotic view’ (2004).
© Walter de Gruyter
Articles in the same Issue
- Plant names and folk taxonomies: Frameworks for ethnosemiotic inquiry
- Towards a grande paradigmatique of film: Christian Metz reloaded
- Umwelt, milieu(x), and environment: A survey of cross-cultural concept mutations
- Bridging theories: A logical-functional perspective on languages
- The ‘handles’ and ‘sides’ of metaphor
- Here is the author! Hyperlinks as constitutive rules of hypertextual communication
- Race, pigskin, and politics: A semiotic analysis of racial images in political advertising
- The serpent's egg: Communication and the bio-semiotics of image making
- Semiotic interpretations of biological mimicry
- Symbol-intertextuality-deconstruction (on the dialectic of stability and variability of concept and symbol)
- Analyse paradigmatique d'un corpus de proverbes à l'aide des matrices de concepts
- Semiotic silence: Its use as a conflictmanagement strategy in intimate relationships
- Peirce on categories: Towards a metaphysical foundation of pragmatics
- Narrative and ontology in Hesiod's Homeric Hymn to Demeter: A catastrophist approach
- Traveling and family in the 1970s British circus
- Structures and semiotic systems
- Eye on Picasso
Articles in the same Issue
- Plant names and folk taxonomies: Frameworks for ethnosemiotic inquiry
- Towards a grande paradigmatique of film: Christian Metz reloaded
- Umwelt, milieu(x), and environment: A survey of cross-cultural concept mutations
- Bridging theories: A logical-functional perspective on languages
- The ‘handles’ and ‘sides’ of metaphor
- Here is the author! Hyperlinks as constitutive rules of hypertextual communication
- Race, pigskin, and politics: A semiotic analysis of racial images in political advertising
- The serpent's egg: Communication and the bio-semiotics of image making
- Semiotic interpretations of biological mimicry
- Symbol-intertextuality-deconstruction (on the dialectic of stability and variability of concept and symbol)
- Analyse paradigmatique d'un corpus de proverbes à l'aide des matrices de concepts
- Semiotic silence: Its use as a conflictmanagement strategy in intimate relationships
- Peirce on categories: Towards a metaphysical foundation of pragmatics
- Narrative and ontology in Hesiod's Homeric Hymn to Demeter: A catastrophist approach
- Traveling and family in the 1970s British circus
- Structures and semiotic systems
- Eye on Picasso
