Approaching the
academic discourse of
semiotics
DISCONEX
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The science of signs and/or sign systems
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The study of meanings hidden away in signs,
symbols and stories
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The discipline studying everything which can
be used in order to lie (Eco, 1970: 7)
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Semiology – as a general theory of signs
(Ferdinand de Saussure)
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Semiotics as a formal study of signs in the
broadest sense (Charles S. Peirce)
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Semiology as part of linguistics (Barthes, 1964)
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Semiotics as a discipline closer to anthropology
(Portis-Winner, 1988)
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Semiotics as an interdisciplinary methodology
for humanities (Li, 2006; Torop, 2014)
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Semiotics is part of Humanities subsection H352
Grammar, semantics, semiotics and syntax for
the Common European Research Classification
Scheme (CERCS)

Semiotics of texts, visual semiotics, cultural
semiotics
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Cognitive semiotics, sociosemiotics,
semiotics of law, educational semiotics

Biosemiotics, zoosemiotics, ecosemiotics,
landscape semiotics
 Linguistics and sociology
 Semiotics and Postcolonial studies
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Personal interest
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To describe the academic culture and the
academic practices of semiotics scholars
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To see how scholars establish intertextual
relationships with other texts and authors
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Novel approach in semiotics studies
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How do researchers and institutions
develop and establish their positions
in the discourse of semiotics?
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Main print venues for semiotics
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Principal medium for dialogue and
information exchange among academics
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Main outlet for the creation and promotion of
knowledge for this academic community
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Scholars have to publish in journals, and then serve as
reviewers/ members of their editorial boards
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Publishing is a procedure that has to be learned and
handled through practice
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Getting published in a journal confers people the
chance to show that they can be worthy as members
of an academic community
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A setting to carry out citation analysis and to
determine patterns of relationship among
semioticians
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In-depth interviews with semiotics scholars
that also serve as members of editorial
boards or editors
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To identify functions of citations and
motivations by means of citation analysis
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Citing is a positioning practice of
researchers as knowledge producers

Through citation, scholars take different
positions and show allegiance to an
academic community

Citation helps to locate scholars’ research
within a state of knowledge and to bring
support for the claims made in their writings

Acquired skill that contributes to integrate
other people’s ideas and to be more
persuasive (Mansourizadeh & Ahmad, 2011)

How and why semioticians quote others is
useful to shed light on the academic culture
and practices of semioticians

How semiotics scholars generate knowledge in
their writings by quoting other academics?
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How do they understand their membership in an
academic community?
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How journals work?
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Why certain articles are read more than others
and become popular?

What models and trends are currently
fashionable in semiotics?

Ahmad, Ummul K; Mansourizadeh, Kobra. 2011. Citation practices among non-native expert and
novice scientific writers. Journal of English for Academic Purposes 10. 152-161

Angermuller, Johannes (2013). Analyse du discours poststructuraliste. Les voix du sujet dans le langage
chez Lacan, Althusser, Foucault, Derrida, Sollers. Limoges: Lambert Lucas.
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Breeze, Ruth (2015). Citing outside the community? An investigation of the language of
bibliography in top journals. English as a scientific and research language. De Gruyter. Berlin. 3758.
Cronin, Blaise (2000). Semiotics and Evaluative Bibliometrics. Journal of Documentation. Vol 56,
Nº4. 440-453.
Flowerdew, John (2013). Academic discourse. Pearson Education Limited. London.
Harwood, Nigel (2009). An interview-based study of the functions of citations in academic writing
across two disciplines. Journal of Pragmatics. 497-518.
Hyland, Ken (1999). Academic attribution: Citation and the Construction of Disciplinary
Knowledge. Applied Linguistics 20/3. 341-367.
Klinkenberg, Jean-Marie (2012). Ce que la sémiotique fait à la société, et inversement. Signata.
Vol. 3. 13-26.
Li, Youzheng (2006). The epistemological turn in semiotic strategy: From signs in the
natural/cultural world to the semantic institutions of academic discourses. Semiotica 162, 1/4. 175193.
Maingueneau, Dominique (2002). Analysis of an academic genre. Discourse Studies Vol 4 (3).
319-342.
Wouters, Paul (1999). The Citation Culture. Doctoral thesis: University of Amsterdam. 278p.
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