Semiotics in the United States

by Thomas Albert Sebeok

Offers an account of the rise of semiotics in the United States. This work focuses on salient individuals and intellectual issues, including theatre, television, folklore, sociology, tourism, and graphic design. It also examines semiotic applications to architecture, marketing and advertising, jurisprudence, and medicine.

Genres: Semiotics

173 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1991

About the author

Thomas Albert Sebeok or Sebők was a prominent linguist and semiotician, and editor-in-chief of the leading periodical in the field, Semiotica, from its 1969 founding until 2001. He earned his Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1945. He is counted among the originators of the field of biosemiotics, and was highly influential in the study of non-human signaling and communication systems.

Sebeok was survived by his wife (and frequent co-author), Jean Umiker-Sebeok

Reviews

[Smith Drupa Jones · Rating 1 out of 5]

He writes to write, not to be read. This is an example of being so proficient at a language that it hurts one’s ability to effectively communicate. It reminded me of reading Latin, where you sometimes have to wait for the verb to appear at the end of a massive passage in order to contextualize everything you’ve previously read. This book probably does fine as a literature review disseminated amongst figures in the field, but is intractable to a casual learner interested in Semiotics.