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In Anna Maria Lorusso’s book Cultural semiotics: For a cultural perspective in semiotics (Lorusso, 2015) the reader is offered an initiated review of key representatives of 20th century structuralism in semiotics and its entries into poststructuralism, with focus on method of analysis. Related to the theoretical discussions on semiotics and culture, Lorusso offers a series of case studies in semiotic analysis of cultural texts. In this review article, I discuss and evaluate the four strands in cultural semiotics suggested by Lorusso. Further, I draw implications for deciding on the themes and objects of studies in a semiotic realm that focuses on text.

In Anna Maria Lorusso’s book Cultural semiotics: For a cultural perspective in semiotics (Lorusso, 2015) the reader is offered an initiated review of key representatives of 20th century structuralism in semiotics and its entries into poststructuralism, with focus on method of analysis. Related to the theoretical discussions on semiotics and culture, Lorusso offers a series of case studies in semiotic analysis of cultural texts. In this review article, I discuss and evaluate the four strands in cultural semiotics suggested by Lorusso. Further, I draw implications for deciding on the themes and objects of studies in a semiotic realm that focuses on text.

In Anna Maria Lorusso’s book Cultural semiotics: For a cultural perspective in semiotics (Lorusso, 2015) the reader is offered an initiated review of key representatives of 20th century structuralism in semiotics and its entries into poststructuralism, with focus on method of analysis. Related to the theoretical discussions on semiotics and culture, Lorusso offers a series of case studies in semiotic analysis of cultural texts. In this review article, I discuss and evaluate the four strands in cultural semiotics suggested by Lorusso. Further, I draw implications for deciding on the themes and objects of studies in a semiotic realm that focuses on text.

In Anna Maria Lorusso’s book Cultural semiotics: For a cultural perspective in semiotics (Lorusso, 2015) the reader is offered an initiated review of key representatives of 20th century structuralism in semiotics and its entries into poststructuralism, with focus on method of analysis. Related to the theoretical discussions on semiotics and culture, Lorusso offers a series of case studies in semiotic analysis of cultural texts. In this review article, I discuss and evaluate the four strands in cultural semiotics suggested by Lorusso. Further, I draw implications for deciding on the themes and objects of studies in a semiotic realm that focuses on text.

In Anna Maria Lorusso’s book Cultural semiotics: For a cultural perspective in semiotics (Lorusso, 2015) the reader is offered an initiated review of key representatives of 20th century structuralism in semiotics and its entries into poststructuralism, with focus on method of analysis. Related to the theoretical discussions on semiotics and culture, Lorusso offers a series of case studies in semiotic analysis of cultural texts. In this review article, I discuss and evaluate the four strands in cultural semiotics suggested by Lorusso. Further, I draw implications for deciding on the themes and objects of studies in a semiotic realm that focuses on text.

In Anna Maria Lorusso’s book Cultural semiotics: For a cultural perspective in semiotics (Lorusso, 2015) the reader is offered an initiated review of key representatives of 20th century structuralism in semiotics and its entries into poststructuralism, with focus on method of analysis. Related to the theoretical discussions on semiotics and culture, Lorusso offers a series of case studies in semiotic analysis of cultural texts. In this review article, I discuss and evaluate the four strands in cultural semiotics suggested by Lorusso. Further, I draw implications for deciding on the themes and objects of studies in a semiotic realm that focuses on text.

On the 14th of January in 2004, Reem Raiyshi killed herself and four Israeli soldiers in a terrorist attack at a border crossing between Israel and Gaza. Soon after the deed, pictures on Reem and her young son were sent to media agencies in Europe - and to circulate on the Internet. Although the picture of Reem is her picture, it is not unique but forms part of a subculture: the ceremonial of the suicide bombers seemed, at that time, to require the pictorial rendering of the perpetrator/victim in his or her declaration of the action before completing the act. Published on Internet, and circulating in mass media, the picture addresses not only the Ego culture of the perpetrator /victim, but also that of the attacked culture. To come into speaking terms with the external culture - or to alter between being "alien" or to be "one of ones own” for teh other – one must submit to a meaning already known by the other culture (Lotman 2009). To insert “alien” elements, integrated with the meaning taken for granted, can be understood as a strategy in pictorial rhetoric in order to evade norm grounded predictability and invert cultural hierarchies.This case study adds to the complication of when the same picture confirming both to the status of Ego culture and as the “threat” of an intruding other-culture in the dynamics of regulating the perception of “us and them”.

In a study on young infants’ susceptibility to synchronic behaviours in dyadic interactions with others the children’s responses indicated tolerance in their interpretation of the situation. When 6 months old infants encountered a communicative other who did not match to the infants’ communicative behaviours the young infants nevertheless remained focused on the interaction. Moreover, the infants made efforts to intervene and take action in the communicative event. An increasing number of studies support the assumption that dyadic, dynamic and mutual interactions can be traced in communicative and affective relations between caregivers and infants from early infancy (Beebe et al 1985, Bråthen 2009, Stern 1985, Rochat 2009, Trevarthen & Murray 1985). According to Murray and Trevarthen (1985) already 6 -12 weeks old infants detect and respond to structural features in the caretaker’s behaviour in such a way that the caretaker, in its turn, is evoked to respond with a matching behaviour. When the infants are between 2-4 months old stable sequences characterize parent-infant face-to-face dyads (Levelli & Fogel 2002). Together, the studies indicate that at the age of 6 months children can be expected to have expectations on the behaviour of the other in communication games. Further, these expectations influence the child’s participation and understanding of the event. When studying semiotic development in young children not only developmental aspects of growing children should be examined but also the means by which children encounter meaning and communication. In my presentation, the dyadic interaction in our study will be analysed in respect of the dynamic potentialities that are framed in communication games with young infants., Ytterligare finansiär: Lunds Universitet

The general goal of this thesis is to elucidate children’s early understandings of pictorial meanings, and how one can know anything about them. My central aim is to explore how picture comprehension develops during children’s first 3 years of life, through semiotic-theory-derived analyses of meaning relations. In so doing, I hope to contribute to the study of both semiotic theory’s psychological basis and the role of semiotic processes in cognitive development: specifically, in children’s experiences of pictorial meanings. In an experimental object retrieval test, including pictures, I show the importance of studying concrete instances of children’s experiences. Among its key results is that, for a group of children who are close to the threshold of being able to use the picture to solve the retrieval task, indexical cuing assists their understanding. One central claims is that the picture sign reflects a dual semiotic process: on the one hand, picture understanding relies on recognition of perceptual similarities; on the other, it draws on communicative processes that are intrinsic to all sign constructions. This duality is particularly interesting when it comes to looking at children’s development of picture understanding. Through similarity relations, children perceive accurate – but initially private and incomplete – understanding of pictures. At the same time though, children are alert to communicative meanings from the start.