Ecosemiotics is a branch of

semiotics Semiotics ( ) is the systematic study of sign processes and the communication of meaning. In semiotics, a sign is defined as anything that communicates intentional and unintentional meaning or feelings to the sign's interpreter. Semiosis is a ...

in its intersection with human ecology, ecological anthropology and ecocriticism. It studies sign processes in culture, which relate to other living beings, communities, and landscapes. Ecosemiotics also deals with sign-mediated aspects of ecosystems. As stressed in ecosemiotic studies, environment has semiotic quality in different ways and levels. Material environment has affordances and potentials to participate in sign relations. Animal species attribute meanings to the environment based on their needs and

umwelt An umwelt (plural: ''umwelten''; from the German wikt:Umwelt, ''Umwelt'', meaning "environment" or "surroundings") is the specific way in which organisms of a particular species perceive and experience the world, shaped by the capabilities of ...

s. In human culture, environment can become meaningful in literary and artistic representations or through symbolization of animals or landscapes. Cultural representations of the environment in turn influence the natural environment through human actions. Ecosemiotics analyzes processes, transmissions and problems that occur in and between the different semiotic layers of the environment. The central focus of ecosemiotics concerns the role of concepts (sign-based models people have) in designing and changing the environment. Concepts of ecosemiotic analysis are, for instance, semiocide, affordance, ecofield, consortium, dissent. The field was initiated by Winfried Nöth and

Kalevi Kull Kalevi Kull (born 12 August 1952, Tartu) is a biosemiotics professor at the University of Tartu, Estonia. He graduated from the University of Tartu in 1975. His earlier work dealt with ethology and field ecology. He has studied the mechanisms of ...

, and later elaborated by Almo Farina and Timo Maran. Ecosemiotics includes (or largely overlaps) with semiotics of landscape.Lindström, Kati; Kull, Kalevi; Palang, Hannes 2014. Landscape semiotics: Contribution to culture theory.
In: Lang, Valter; Kull, Kalevi (eds.), ''Estonian Approaches to Culture Theory''. Tartu: University of Tartu Press, 110–132.

Literature

* Nöth, Winfried 1998. Ecosemiotics. ''

Sign Systems Studies ''Sign Systems Studies'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal on semiotics edited at the Department of Semiotics of the University of Tartu and published by the University of Tartu Press. It is the oldest periodical in the field. It was initially ...

'' 26: 332–343. * Kull, Kalevi 1998. Semiotic ecology: Different natures in the semiosphere. ''Sign Systems Studies'' 26: 344–37

*Maran, Timo; Kull, Kalevi 2014. Ecosemiotics: main principles and current developments. ''Geografiska Annaler: Series B, Human Geography'' 96(1): 41–5

*Siewers, Alfred Kentigern 2013. Re-Imagining Nature: Environmental Humanities and Ecosemiotics. Bucknell University Press.

References

External links

Evolutionary ecopsychology and ecosemiotics
Semiotics Ecology Environmental humanities {{ecology-stub

See also

Literature

References

External links