MediaSpace Wiki

Intercultural Spr2006 Sess16

Semiotics continued

• We looked briefly at some scenes from the movie "Spirited Away"
• Symbols, Icons, and Indexes
  • Different kinds of sign
  • An icon physically resembles its signified.
    • a picture of a sheep and the idea of a sheep
  • An index is temporally correlated with its signified
    • the sound baa and the idea of a sheep
    • a pile of wool and the idea of a sheep
    • an actual sheep is a referent
  • A symbol is an abstraction that we associate with a referent
    • the word sheep and the idea of a sheep
  • Note, in all this, that an actual sheep is a referent
  • And that when we label a picture of a sheep with the word sheep, that the picture of a sheep is an interpretant
  • Every variant of sign is a social convention
    • a picture of a sheep
    • baa
    • a pile of wool
    • the word sheep
  • Each is a social invention
    • the convention has to be established
    • and accepted
    • before a sign becomes useful as a unit of meaning
  • Once generally accepted, however, the sign becomes invisible

• The power of labels
• Between Languages
  • Multilingualism
    • Bilingual
    • Multilingual
  • Translation and Interpretation
    • Source text and target text
    • Fitting languages to each other
    • Issues
      • Equivalency
      • Accuracy
    • Role of the translator
      • Intermediaries
      • Cultural Brokers
  • Code Switching and Identity
    • The challenges of retaining languages
    • Language Politics and Policies
• Language and Globalization
  • Lingua Franca
  • De Facto

• Accommodation
• Cultural Constraint
• Multilingual Code Switching

Index Card Assignment due Thursday

Select a single scene from your text. Identify three signs from that scene. For each, identify the "langue" or language with which it is associated. For each, identify three meanings for the sign. Since the question was raised in class, do this as a list. It should be able to fit on one side of a three by five card.