| Course title | Cultural semiotics |
|---|---|
| Course code | KOL/CSEM |
| Organizational form of instruction | Seminary |
| Level of course | Bachelor |
| Year of study | not specified |
| Semester | Winter and summer |
| Number of ECTS credits | 5 |
| Language of instruction | Czech, English |
| Status of course | Compulsory-optional |
| Form of instruction | Face-to-face |
| Work placements | This is not an internship |
| Recommended optional programme components | None |
| Course availability | The course is available to visiting students |
| Lecturer(s) |
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| Course content |
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Sessions 1-2. Culture, what is it? I.i. From Tylor to Boas and beyond: an anthropological perspective. I.ii. Emic, etic and other means of description. I.iii. The notion of "langue" in Saussure and its relation to culture. Sessions 3-4. Semiotics, what is it? II.i. Communication and culture: potlach, alliances and kinship. II.ii. From Saussure to Lévi Strauss: variation and constancy. II.iii. Umberto Eco and the risks of semiotic imperialism II.iv A glance of contemporary cultural semiotics Sessions 5-6. A cultural semiotics part one III.i. Lotman and the Tartu Moscow School. III.ii. Signs, models, and other problems of general semiotics. III.iv. Autocommunication and heterocommunication. III.iii. Primary and secondary modelling systems: the place of language in culture. Sessions 7-8- Translation, culture and meaning-making mechanisms IV.i. What is a semiosphere? IV.ii. Borders as translation mechanisms. IV.iii. Are there really borders? IV.iv. The problems of identity in culture. IV.v. Alterity and translation in culture (and in language) Sessions 9-10. A cultural semiotics part two V.i. From Saussure to Hjelmslev: connotation and metalanguage. V.ii. The semiology of Barthes and the semiology of linguists V.iii. From Augustine to Prieto: sign typologies. V.iii. The enchainment of sign systems: The place of language in culture Sessions 11-12. Culture, knowledge and praxis VI.i. The problems of classification and the principle of pertinence. VI.ii. Meaning: action and perception. VI.iii. Signs and knowing VI.iv. Culture (and language) as praxis.
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| Learning activities and teaching methods |
| unspecified |
| Learning outcomes |
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The aim of the course is to introduce students into the basic principles of cultural semiotics, and to familiarize them with the problems and advantages of a semiotic analysis of culture and cultural processes.
At the end of the course, the student will: -have a firm grasp of the foundations of the semiotics of culture. -read and understand academic texts dealing with cultural semiotics studies. -demonstrate solid understanding of the basic notions dealt with by classic authors from the field (e.g. modelling system, connotation, signifier, signified, etc.). -be able to formulate research problems, both practical and theoretical, regarding the analysis of culture, or cultural process from a semiotic point of view. |
| Prerequisites |
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unspecified
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| Assessment methods and criteria |
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unspecified
Regular attendance and engagement in class discussions. The course will be taught in English. When possible, reading material will be made available in Czech. The course will be evaluated on the basis of a final written assignment. The student will be graded based on a final written assignment. The assignment is a research paper. It is suggested that the written assignment consists in a literary review of a given concept or topic (e.g. what has been said of the notion of "model" in semiotic literature, what have linguists said about Lotman's notion of "modelling system", what has been said about the relationships between Lotman and Barthes, etc.) Students can decide to write their assignment as a critical assessment of a given concept, or author, treated in class, or they can try to use some of the concepts treated in class to describe some cultural process. The criteria to be evaluated are: Clarity of exposition. Logic of argumentation. Clarity in the formulation of the paper's the research question. Understanding of the researched topic The research paper should comply with the following characteristics: Minimum length of five pages (plus references). Use of at least four references. Formatting in accordance to the Linguistic Frontiers' style sheet. (https://sciendo-parsed-feed.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/LF/Instructions_for_Authors.pdf ) *English proficiency will not be evaluated, but an academic register is expected from the papers. |
| Recommended literature |
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| Study plans that include the course |
| Faculty | Study plan (Version) | Category of Branch/Specialization | Recommended semester | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Faculty: Faculty of Arts | Study plan (Version): General Linguistics and Communication Theory (2021) | Category: Philological sciences | - | Recommended year of study:-, Recommended semester: - |
| Faculty: Faculty of Arts | Study plan (Version): General Linguistics and Communication Theory (2019) | Category: Philological sciences | - | Recommended year of study:-, Recommended semester: - |
| Faculty: Faculty of Arts | Study plan (Version): General Lingvistics and Theory of Communication (2014) | Category: Philological sciences | - | Recommended year of study:-, Recommended semester: - |
| Faculty: Faculty of Arts | Study plan (Version): General Lingvistics (2021) | Category: Philological sciences | - | Recommended year of study:-, Recommended semester: - |
| Faculty: Faculty of Arts | Study plan (Version): General Lingvistics (2022) | Category: Philological sciences | - | Recommended year of study:-, Recommended semester: - |
| Faculty: Faculty of Arts | Study plan (Version): General Linguistics and Communication Theory (2021) | Category: Philological sciences | - | Recommended year of study:-, Recommended semester: - |
| Faculty: Faculty of Arts | Study plan (Version): General Linguistics and Communication Theory (2019) | Category: Philological sciences | - | Recommended year of study:-, Recommended semester: - |
| Faculty: Faculty of Arts | Study plan (Version): General Lingvistics (2019) | Category: Philological sciences | - | Recommended year of study:-, Recommended semester: - |