This paper explores the relationship between the structure of orthographies and the way they are laid out spatially. In most written systems, consonantal alphabets have been written right to left, while vocalic ones have been written left to right, suggesting directional properties are the consequences of different processing strategies.…

The implications of some major linguistic and semiotic concepts for the machine manipulation of natural language text are examined. It is proposed that the study of meaning should contribute to the development of sophisticated algorithms for machine indexing. (Author)

Pragmatics, often defined as the study of language use and language users, sets out to explain what people wish to achieve and how they go about achieving it using language. The thirteen chapters in this volume show how translation (skill, art, process, and product) is affected by pragmatic factors such as the acts performed by people when they…

The current literacy crisis, which has spawned numerous studies and generated vigorous debate, is less about decreasing literacy and ability among the North American and worldwide population than it is about who controls literacy, how literacy is used, and who can use literacy. Most who claim there is a literacy crisis are reacting to the…

Shows how the Sumerian language imposed the sexagesimal character of its numeration upon the graphic system

Lotman's concept of autocommunication--self-communication that functions as a mantra to enhance the ego--is applied to examples of strategic plans that were not implemented. Such autocommunicational planning is seen, not as failure, but as offering mythical insight and serving to focus mind and foster enthusiasm and goal seeking. (MJL)

Literature is reviewed supporting the notion of translation as a logical operation (translatology), operating with a unit that differs from that used in linguistic theory. Based on the logeme or logical unit, the aim of systematic translatology is to clarify the translation operation, interpretation, and translation criticism. (PMJ)

The author briefly surveys some of the claims made about the presumed nature of film as language and some of the problems that arise. He considers the views of two influential schools of film criticism: the Russian formalists (Pudovkin and Eisenstein) and the British semiologist (Peter Wollen). (Author/SJL)

A semiological analysis of films and television broadcasts permits better mastery of the way in which filmic matter can realize didactic intentions, improved understanding of the process of acquisition of knowledge, and a better means of relating the processes of communication and learning to interindividual and intercultural differences.…

Traces in detail the development of pragmatics and its relationship to semantics. (AM)

Discusses semiotics or sign theory as an alternative framework for understanding language, particularly in regard to teacher education. It is argued that teachers should be introduced to models of language analysis, such as semiotics, which enable them to create classroom opportunities for affirmation of individual cultural identity. (Author/LMO)

Discusses the relationship and value of semiotics to the established domains of information science. Highlights include documentation; computer operations; the language of computing; automata theory; linguistics; speech and writing; and the written language as a unifying principle for the document and the computer. (93 references) (LRW)

Instructional strategies requiring transmediation, the process of translating meaning from one sign system (such as language) to another (such as pictures), are critical to enquiry-oriented classrooms because learners must invent a connection between the systems. This article, drawing on semiotic theory, explores how transmediation achieves its…

In response to the current interest in the functional approach to language teaching, a language program is proposed that is "pro grammar" but not a return to the teaching of abstract and decontextualized grammar. (CFM)