Analyses the iconography of five photographs used in advertising. (AM)

Semiotics, the theory of signs and symbols and their function in languages, is described with reference to its history, theoretical branches of study, scope, and uses. (MSE)

Analyzes the sound components of radio commercials, proposing some guidelines for the study of their functions. Particularly discusses the relationship between the linguistic and the paralinguistic elements of the message and the evocative function of sound effects and music. Finally, outlines a discourse typology based on their rhetorical…

Explores the depths of connotation, beyond the explicit meaning of words, arguing that some of them carry a special emotional load for native speakers. Admits that the evocative power of words varies with individuals, classes, and age groups but maintains that there exists a vocabulary endowed with universal emotional power. (MES)

Describes the use of commercial advertisements in an exercise in semantics in the French classroom. (Text is in French.) (AM)

The cartoon's evolution as a reflection of social history and popular culture is examined. Form (linear, film-like, etc.) and content (history, humor, fiction, commentary) and their interrelationship are considered. (MSE)

Analyzes the language and rhetoric of persuasive discourse as employed in advertising. Uses a selection of bank advertisements as a corpus, identifying and discussing four basic models of discourse. The discussion focuses on the rhetorical devices that characterize each type of text. (MES)

A series of French language classroom exercises to be used over four class sessions applies principles of semiotics to literary textual analysis. The session themes include decoding and interpreting, reconstructing meaning, sociocultural connotations in the text, and sense of time and space. (MSE)

Proposes a method whereby news media materials are analyzed on the sociological, anthropological, and semiological level, with a view towards analyzing the role of the journalist in French society. (Text is in French.) (AM)

Describes the functions, specific uses, syntactic structure, and typographical characteristics of titles, discussing examples from newspapers, books, films, and scientific journals. Analysis of the semantic relationship between title and text is followed by the description of various instructional techniques for the production of titles and the…

An approach to literary analysis of foreign language texts uses the tools provided by the study of semiotics. The technique is illustrated in the analysis of an excerpt from a French novel. (MSE)

Semiotics can be a useful tool for analysis in language learning situations. This is particularly true for delineating student comprehension and the familiarity/strangeness aspects of discourse or texts. Use of semiotics can help differentiate the problems facing learners of French as a native language from those facing learners of French as a…

Presentation of a methodology for instruction in reading and interpreting graphs and charts in a foreign language class. Illustrated by several demographic charts, the discussion includes an explanation of graphic semiology, several pedagogical approaches, the relationship between written text and graph and a bibliography. (Text is in French.)…

Graffiti analysis is an important means of understanding social and cultural realities at a given moment of a community's existence, realities that the media often treat only in generalizations. Comparisons of graffiti between places, periods, languages, and subjects may be revealing. (MSE)

Links are drawn between text theories, both linguistic and semiotic, and the teaching of writing. Presents class activities designed to motivate students and teach good writing based on these theories. (MSE)