Ecosemiotics is a branch of

semiotics Semiotics (also called semiotic studies) is the systematic study of sign processes ( semiosis) and meaning making. Semiosis is any activity, conduct, or process that involves signs, where a sign is defined as anything that communicates something ...

in its intersection with

human ecology Human ecology is an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary study of the relationship between humans and their natural, social, and built environments. The philosophy and study of human ecology has a diffuse history with advancements in ecolog ...

ecological anthropology Ecological anthropology is a sub-field of anthropology and is defined as the "study of cultural adaptations to environments". The sub-field is also defined as, "the study of relationships between a population of humans and their biophysical envir ...

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. For ecosemiotics, 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 In the semiotic theories of Jakob von Uexküll and Thomas A. Sebeok, ''umwelt'' (plural: umwelten; from the German '' Umwelt'' meaning "environment" or "surroundings") is the "biological foundations that lie at the very epicenter of the stu ...

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 Affordance is what the environment offers the individual. American psychologist James J. Gibson coined the term in his 1966 book, ''The Senses Considered as Perceptual Systems'', and it occurs in many of his earlier essays. However, his best-know ...

, ecofield, consortium, dissent. The field was initiated by

Winfried Nöth Winfried Nöth (born September 12, 1944 in Gerolzhofen) is a German linguist and semiotician. After graduating from high school in 1963 in Brunswick, from 1965 to 1969 Nöth studied English, French and Portuguese in Münster, Geneva, Lisbon an ...

and Kalevi Kull, and later elaborated by Almo Farina and

Timo Maran Timo Maran (born 13 April 1975) is an Estonian biosemiotician and poet. He is the head Department of Semiotics, University of Tartu. Membership in organizations: * Estonian Naturalists' Society (vice-president 2007–2010) * Estonian Semiotics ...

. 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 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 o ...

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