New Issue of Signs & Media (Spring Issue, 2018)

We are glad to announce the publication of the Spring Issue（2018）of Signs & Media, a bilingual (English-Chinese), peer-reviewed semiotic journal. Please feel free to download the PDF Version of Signs & Media:

http://www.semiotics.net.cn/index.php/zine_view/index/93

Editor’s Note (Spring Issue of Signs & Media, 2018)

Semiotics is open to a variety of research objectives and to interactions with multiple theoretical approaches. This trait emerges in the works included in the section of this issue on “Marxist Semiotic Aesthetics in Eastern Europe”. In this section, our domestic and oversea contributors engage in interdisciplinary dialogues from the perspectives of Marxism, semiotics, aesthetics and literature. For instance, Nora Krausova discusses the dialectic relation between story and discourse in literature. Peter Steiner probes into the historical linkage between Marxism and Prague structuralism. Zhang Bi and Qin Jiayang work on the semiotic approaches in Kagan’s theory of aesthetics and the sign system of everyday life, respectively. Yuan Zhe and Kuang Cunjiu contribute articles on the acceptance of eastern European Marxist semiotics in China and the sinology of Prague school. All of these essays, through their theoretical construction, criticism and comparison, contribute to the innovative integration of Marxism and semiotics.

The section “Semiotics of Communication” focuses on renewing methodologies in semiotic studies of communication. The essays by Lin Shengdong et al. and Feng Bingqi et al. use social semiotics to analyse transcultural adaptions of global advertising and the value of information in visual texts, respectively. The histories of journalism and semiotics converge in the study of female images in modern Chinese pictorials by Xu Pei and Zhou Dan. The term ‘memes’ is introduced by Xue Chen as she ponders the communication mechanism of everyday life culture.

The section “General Narratology” attempts to enrich the research perspectives of narratology. For instance, Ni Aizhen studies irony based on the distance between narrative subjects. Ren Wei applies the concept of the implied author to translation studies. Zhu Lin concentrates on truth in fairy tale narratives. The multiple levels of significance in their works guide us towards a better comprehension of the term meaning.

Following a tradition of the spring issue, the annual report on the development of semiotic studies in 2017 is presented to allow the audience to recall the significant works and news of the year.

Table of Contents (Spring Issue of Signs & Media, 2018)

Marxist Semiotic Aesthetics in Eastern Europe

Introduction
Fu Qilin

Theory of Sign System and the Process of Literature Reflection
Nora Krausova, translated by Jiri Lutka and Fu Qilin

When Marxism Met Structuralism for the First Time: Prague, 1934
Peter Steiner

Semiotic Approaches in Kagan’s Theory of Aesthetics
Zhang Bi

On the Meaning of the Praxis of Representatum in Everyday Life
Qin Jiayang

A Study of the Prague School of Sinology from the Perspective of Marxist Semiotics
Yuan Zhe

The Acceptance of Eastern European Marxist Semiotics in China
Kuang Cunjiu

Semiotics of Communication

Global Advertising Adaptation for Chinese Consumers in the Early 20th Century: A Semiotic Approach
Lin Shengdong, Paul van den Hoven & Zhang Yiqiong

A Framework for the Information Value Analysis of Visual Texts from the Perspective of Social Semiotics
Feng Bingqi, Zhang Yuyan & Jiang Xushuang

The Evolution of Female Images as Consuming Objects in Modern Chinese Pictorials
Xu Pei, Zhou Dan

On Memes: An Exploration of the Communication Mechanism of Everyday Life Culture
Xue Chen

Genernal Narratology

The Formation of Irony: The Distance Between Narrative Subjects
Ni Aizhen

On Adopting “Implied Author” in the Study of English Translations of Chinese Classics
Ren Wei

An Analysis of the Imagination of Space-time and Its Border in Fairy Tale Narrative
Zhu Lin

Theory and Practice

2017 Annual Report of Chinese Semiotic Studies
Rao Guangxiang, Li Jiayue

Cross-Cultural Semiotics: A New Territory and Methodology for Literary Studies and Cultural Studies in the New-Media Age
Li Quan

The Early Semiosis of Five Phases by Zou Yan
Lan Xing

Reviews

The Meaning Construction of Commodity Signs: A Review of Semiotics of Commodity
Liu Lan

A Study on Art Philosophy from the Perspective of Semiotics: A Review of An Jing’s A Study on Nelson Goodmans Art Philosophy
Zhou Shangqin

A Review of Workshop on “Contemporary Interpretations of Classical Platonic Dialogues”
Su Wenlin

About Sings & Media

Signs & Media is a bilingual (English-Chinese), peer-reviewed semiotic journal, founded in 2008 by the Institute of Semiotics & Media Studies (ISMS), Sichuan University. Signs & Media, dedicating itself to the interdisciplinary research on semiotics and media studies, has now been included in the Chinese Social Science Citation Index (CSSCI).

Under the editorship of Professor Henry Yiheng Zhao, Signs & Media endeavors to systematically expand semiotics to all fields of human sciences, covering, notably , communication and media studies, cultural studies, art and literature, as well as narratology, stylistics, discourse analysis, cognitive science in the semiotic perspective, and, in particular, reinterpretations of Chinese traditional semiotic heritage.

Signs & Media welcomes contributions on any topics, so long as they, in a way, help illuminate the theoretical foundation and widen the sphere of applicability of semiotics.

Email address: semiotics_media@163.com
Phone: +86-28-8541-2121
Fax: +86-28-8541-2710
Website: www.semiotics.net.cn/isms
Postal Address: Institute of Semiotics & Media Studies,
Sichuan University,
No.29 Wanjiang Road,
Chengdu, 610064
China