Understanding ethnic visibility through language use: the case of Taiwan Hakka

This study investigates how the ethnic visibility of Taiwan Hakka is improved through language use. The usage of a unique Hakka symbolic code <nganggiang stiff neck> is focused on. Based on data from the four Taiwan major newspapers, an analysis with text techniques shows that the code emerges along with social-political developments in Taiwan, with its meaning turning from negative to positive connotation. Its frequency is highly correlated with major political events in Taiwan, with peaks during the two or three years before presidential elections. It illustrates semiotic innovation, extending from Hakka to Hakka non-human, to non-Hakka, and to non-Hakka non-human frames. The salient image it creates increases Hakka ethnic visibility and enhances their ethnic identity. A significant implication is that minority ethnic groups can employ a unique symbolic code, empowering it with positive connotation. Through extensive language use, its representation can raise their ethnic visibility and enhance their ethnic identity.     

Infrastructures for ethnicity: understanding the diversification of contemporary Indonesia

Social categories need to be replicated to endure. Commentaries about social practices drive replication. Commentaries increase the number of signs emblematic of this category. In contemporary nation-states, mass education, bureaucratic processes, and mass media create large participation frameworks that facilitate replication. I term these participation frameworks ‘infrastructures for ethnicity’. This paper examines two types of infrastructures that have facilitated replication of emblems of ethnicity in Indonesia. My data is drawn from a soap opera, Internet commentaries about this soap, and news stories about clothing and culture. In looking at this data, I examine how old elements that point to ‘ethnicity’ are combined with new elements, how this new combination invites commentaries, how this process increases the semiotic density of these categories, and how all of this engenders diversity in Indonesia.     

浅析西方文化哲学的四次转向

通过对西方(人类)文化哲学史的考察,可以发现西方哲学中有几次"转向"对人类文化哲学的建立具有重大的意义。这几次哲学"转向"逐渐废除了认识论作为第一哲学的特权,最终使得系统的现代文化哲学得以建立起来。具体而言,维柯、赫尔德、卢梭等人分别提出了哲学的"语义学转向"、"语言学转向"和"民族学转向",试图在现代哲学思想的语境下构建文化哲学,而卡西尔则在整合前人思想的基础上提出了"符号学转向",把符号思维确立为哲学的新原则,由此建立了真正意义上的人类文化哲学。     

“语言是一种符号系统”说疑议

文章简要概括了索绪尔“语言是一种符号系统”说,认为索氏那种研究语言而“不管历时态”的学说,就认识论而言乃是机械唯物主义的,就方法论而言是形而上学的,落实到实践上则是行不通的。文中立足汉语研究之现实,以典型事例印证了索氏之说的误导作用。进而对索氏理论的基石“能指和所指的联系是任意的”说进行验证,发现它的提出主要是出于理论建构的需要,但同时也不可避免地暴露了索氏理论的臆断性。文章的结论是:“语言是一种符号系统”说的观念是浮泛的,它对汉语研究的负面影响是严重的。     

符号正义与公共行政 ——基于语言游戏的正义视角

公共行政是正义研究的重要领域。传统理论多采用罗尔斯、诺齐克和沃尔泽等人为正义提供的客观标准。但这些标准不仅在理论上相互冲突,而且在公共行政的实践中也常常会导致模棱两可的判断。本研究旨在提出一种符号正义的观念,来指导当代公共行政的理论与实践。这种观念认为正义并不存在中立客观的标准,而是被群体共享的信念和实践所建构。研究者只有将正义置于特定语言游戏的背景中,才能真正理解其发生和运作。因为和正义相关的不同语言游戏之间只存在家族相似性,所以公共行政必须面对相互冲突的复杂环境。符号正义的观念能够为这种公共行政问题的复杂性提供必不可少的分析框架。     

对索绪尔符号学的几点认识

索绪尔既是结构主义语言学的创始人也是符号学的先驱,他提出所指与能指的区别标志着符号学的诞生。索绪尔认为,语言是一种符号系统,语言学无非是一种符号学。针对索绪尔的符号学谈几点认识。     

小说对话的翻译--从符号学角度分析《简·爱》

小说对话不是一种装饰,它在小说中发挥着多个重要的作用--刻画人物是其中之一.本文运用符号学的翻译原则,比较分析了分别由祝庆英和黄源深翻译的英国小说<简·爱>的两个中文译本中的对话.研究发现,译文对话并不总能够像原文对话一样刻画人物.本文着重探讨了译文失败的原因及其可能产生的后果.     

语境的三维层面与翻译

语境的因素是翻译过程中不可忽视的一个因素.语境在语言学视角下做出了各种划分,语境模式正在被广泛地运用于翻译学领域,同时,语境在决定译文文本的准确性、文本语言层面的具体意义等方面都有举足轻重的作用.而且,语境从语言的交际层面、语用层面和符号层面等,在翻译中都发挥了重要的作用,显示出它已越出语言的层面,正在进入跨学科、跨领域的研究中.翻译是一种双语活动,而语境分析则是获得正确的语义转换的重要手段之一.因此翻译必须从语境探索入手,以语境为依据.     

AFTERWORD: CRITICAL INFORMATION STUDIES

This paper takes measure of an emerging scholarly field that sits at the intersection of many important areas of study. Critical Information Studies (CIS) considers the ways in which culture and information are regulated by their relationship to commerce, creativity, and other human affairs. CIS captures the variety of approaches and bodies of knowledge needed to make sense of important phenomena such as copyright policy, electronic voting, encryption, the state of libraries, the preservation of ancient cultural traditions, and markets for cultural production. It necessarily stretches to a wide array of scholarly subjects, employs multiple complementary methodologies, and influences conversations far beyond the gates of the university. Economists, sociologists, linguists, anthropologists, ethnomusicologists, communication scholars, lawyers, computer scientists, philosophers, and librarians have all contributed to this field, and thus it can serve as a model for how engaged, relevant scholarship might be carried out. CIS interrogates the structures, functions, habits, norms, and practices that guide global flows of information and cultural elements. Instead of being concerned merely with one's right to speak (or sing or publish), CIS asks questions about access, costs, and chilling effects on, within, and among audiences, citizens, emerging cultural creators, indigenous cultural groups, teachers, and students. Central to these issues is the idea of ‘semiotic democracy’, or the ability of citizens to employ the signs and symbols ubiquitous in their environments in manners that they determine.     

武侠小说表意形式“否定”中的前行及后果——从格雷马斯符号方阵看武侠小说的文体演进

武侠小说的文体演进,以“江湖”符号表意的“否定”前行为内驱力,呈现出格雷马斯符号方阵式的全否定格局。从“剑仙”江湖、“英雄”江湖、“人”的江湖到亦正亦邪的侠客江湖,20世纪武侠小说“江湖”表意方式依次否定与渐趋圆熟。但在此后,武侠“江湖”作为幻想性表意符号已彻底跌落“现实”,这与武侠小说在20世纪中国的首要任务——以“前现代”的情景幻象否定在现实中无力参与的现代化大潮——明显相悖。武侠必须在“江湖”新的符号表意形式的生成中,完成其“幻想性”的重塑。