Excerpted from a text dealing with narrative semiotics now in preparation. (DD)

Special issue devoted to language and history. (VM)

Research supported by a grant from the Canada Council. (VM)

Summarizes the results of attempts to teach a young chimpanzee to use sign language, and raises questions about the uniqueness of human language. Analyzes language development in children and suggests that humans differ from nonhuman primates in the ability to analyze the environment into parts which can be manipulated in the mind, and that it is…

Explains the relevance to film criticism of Jung's theory of the collective unconscious and its archetypal manifestations. Analyzes "The Shining," a film representative of the presently dominant occult-horror genre, in terms of the Jungian approach. Discusses the role of film in relation to the world's psychic balance. (PD)

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)

Examines Kamsa ritual language and describes a model (based on accessibility, formalization, and efficacy) for specifying its semiotic constitution. (EKN)

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)

Reviews evidence for a developmental sequence in symbolic play and attempts to provide a theoretical rationale for predicting correspondences between symbolic play and early language. (Author/RH)

Considers whether linguistic models can be used to examine how information is structured in the screen media. Highlights differences between language and screen media that make the transference difficult. Raises interesting questions about media literacy and whether screen media may have important perceptual and cognitive effects. (JMF)

Describes a graphic design program at the Rhode Island School of Design that reflects an intellectual and theoretical tradition while fostering the generation of visual experiment. Discusses the value of semiotics in defining curriculum needs relative to language systems, and presents descriptions and visual samplings of each problem of…

Several hypotheses are developed concerning the semantic-pragmatic shifts that take place in the development of grammatical markers such as prepositions, auxiliary verbs and sentence connectives. Over time, grammatical markers shift from being primarily referential to more pragmatic meanings, from propositional to textual to attitudinal. (PMJ)

Discusses erroneous beliefs regarding sign language, namely, (1) sign language is one and universal, (2) its grammar is poor or nonexistant, (3) its vocabulary is concrete and figurative, (4) its "signs" consist of simply gestures, and (5) sign language mimics oral language. (AM)

Presents a semiotic analysis of the potential of computer algebra systems (CAS) for enabling mathematical activity on a conceptual level higher than usual. Illustrates examples of theoretical points from a development project in the context of a first year university course in calculus. Discusses how CAS may be used in a didactical analysis and in…

Explores three broad areas of inquiry: what significance visual images have for rhetorical analysis; how a study of nonverbal material might be conducted; and whether visual explanations depend on the image or the viewer. Argues that viewers understand Joseph Wright's painting "The Air Pump" in terms of its subject, its exhibition space, the…