TEACHING SEMIOTICS IN THE CONTEXT OF PHILOLOGICAL SCIENCES

Semiotics is the science of signs, sign processes, signification and
communication. Modern semiotics is interdisciplinary (referring
to philology, philosophy, anthropology) and relies on a dialogue
between two European cultures: Russian and French. It was in
these countries that the rapid development of discipline began in
the second half of the 20th century (Moscow-Tartu School in
Russia, Paris School Semiotics in France).
The Russian semiotic tradition began in 1962 with the
Symposium on the Structural Study of Sign Systems (Vyacheslav
Ivanov, Vladimir Toporov, Yuri Lotman), with the participation
of the Structural typology sector of the Institute of Slavic Studies
of the USSR Academy of Sciences. The symposium in the USSR
and the Linguistic Conference held in the USA in Bloomington
played the role of a catalyst for the creation of the International
Association for Semiotic Studies (L’Association Internationale de
Sémiotique (IASS-AIS), founded in Paris in 1969 with the
participation of Roman Jakobson and Algirdas Julien Greimas,
and for the subsequent development of semiotic science.
In Russia, the semiotic school began with simple and easily
structured semiotic models: gesture system, etiquette, system of
traffic signs. Further, the Moscow Semiotic School and Y.M.
Lotman made the texts the center of scientific attraction, in which
they learned to see “non-obvious” interpreted meanings using
semiotic methods.
French semiotics scientists (in particular, the Paris School
founded by A.J. Greimas) were largely associated with the wellknown French school of philosophy and psychology (Lacan,
Bachelard, Deleuze, Bataille, Derrida). This determined the code
system and the referential attitudes of the presentation of semiotic
works, when the behavior of the person and the model of his
thinking became the most important. In modern French semiotics,
special attention is given to semiotic practices. The basic
principles of today’s French semiotic school are that discourse
and semiotic practice are presented not in the form of static
schemes (for example, semiotic squares), but in continuous,
dynamic or affective aspects (semiotics of passions).
Interest and attention to semiotics has now flared up with a new
force, firstly, because of the attention to the distinction between
semiotic systems of anthropoids and man, which turned out to be
interesting both in itself and as a possible predictable path to the
origin of human communication and human language. Secondly,
European globalization requires understanding and describing the
typology of semi-ethical codes for a common understanding of
not only linguistic structures, but also the history of behavioral
models in the field of joint scientific research, understanding of
historical facts, international relations, economic projects,
medicine, etc.
Today, semiotics as a discipline is widely represented in higher
education institutions in Europe (France, Italy, Spain, Belgium,
Finland, Lithuania, Estonia, Bulgaria), Latin America (Brazil,
Peru, Argentina), USA, Canada, Asia (South Korea, China), the
World Congresses of the International Association for Semiotic
Studies are held regularly. In modern Russia, semiotics as a
science begins to become more popular in the applied aspect, in
the form of special courses in universities in the humanities
departments.
In one of the most significant semiotic works of recent years,
Jacques Fontanille’s book, Forms of Life (Fontanille, J.: 2015),
the science of meaning is understood primarily as a science of
questions: “You asked me a question, what was the point of the
question? “. It is logical to regard semiotics as a science of
questions: it offers numerous methods to explore the meaning of
practices, texts, and objects that characterize human culture.
Semiotics has developed approaches to describe the emergence of
the meaning of sign systems and communities, such as texts,
images, or social interactions. She is able to talk about their
meaning, going hand in hand with other humanities – philology,
history, philosophy, psychology, anthropology, economics,
sociology. But in order to effectively raise the question of the
impact of technological progress on our society, semiotics needs
an immanent plan. Such a plan today is life forms, elements of the
semiosphere – signs, texts, objects and practices endowed with
meaning and symbolically expressed principles: they affect our
feelings and emotional states, they also determine the meaning of
our existence and our behavior.
The presentation will describe the experience of teaching
semiotics at the State Academic University of the Humanities on
the basis of the Russian Academy of Sciences (2018-2019
academic year, special course “Historical Semiotics”), as well as
the question of the place of this science in the teaching of
humanities, in particular philological sciences, on the example of
Russia and France.
Keywords: Semiotics, Paris School Semiotics, Moscow-Tartu
School, intercultural dialogue