CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 310Semiotics and Representation StudiesPhilosophy and History of ScienceUmberto Eco and Semiotics

The Forms of Meaning: Modeling Systems Theory and Semiotic Analysis

Sebeok, Thomas A., Danesi, Marcel·2000·De Gruyter eBooks
DOI 10.1515/9783110816143
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

The making of models to encode knowledge is an intrinsic feature of human cognitive life. Signs, texts, codes, and various other representational forms are the direct outcomes of innate model-making systems. This book presents a methodological framework, developed from the field of biosemiotics, for studying semiotic phenomena as processes. It presents a descriptive system for uniting semiotics and biology so that the modeling instinct can be studied in terms of its manifestations in various species. The book is written in an accessible textbook style, and can thus be used as a manual by both professional semioticians and students taking courses in semiotics, biology, and the communication sciences. It is composed in such a way that a broad readership can appreciate the fascinating research going on in a relatively unknown area of interdisciplinary study.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1515/9783110816143

Cites

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

This paper’s full text isn’t openly available, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Sebeok delineates three interconnected levels of modeling: primary (PMS), secondary (SMS), and tertiary (TMS), which correspond roughly to Peirce's categories of firstness, secondness, and thirdness.

    “Sebeok delineates three interconnected levels of modeling: primary (PMS), secondary (SMS), and tertiary (TMS), which correspond roughly to Peirce's categories of firstness, secondness, and thirdness [28].”

    From Virtual Museums as Meaning-Modeling Systems in Digital Heritage (2025) · cites this paper as [28]

  • According to the extensionality principle in MST, a virtual museum experience is often initially an iconic simulation (primary level) before it becomes indicative or symbolic (secondary or tertiary).

    “According to the extensionality principle in MST, a virtual museum experience is often initially an iconic simulation (primary level) before it becomes indicative or symbolic (secondary or tertiary).”

    From Virtual Museums as Meaning-Modeling Systems in Digital Heritage (2025) · cites this paper as [28]

  • MST categorizes artificial forms specific to human activity into four general types: singularized forms, composite forms, cohesive forms, and connective forms.

    “Crucially, MST categorizes the artificial forms specific to human activity into four general types: singularized forms, composite forms, cohesive forms, and connective forms (see Table A1) [28,41].”

    From Virtual Museums as Meaning-Modeling Systems in Digital Heritage (2025) · cites this paper as [28]

  • Higher-level, more abstract modeling presupposes and builds upon lower-level modeling.

    “MST's principles, such as the extensionality principle and the interconnectedness principle, highlight that higher-level (more abstract) modeling presupposes and builds upon lower-level modeling.”

    From Virtual Museums as Meaning-Modeling Systems in Digital Heritage (2025) · cites this paper as [28]

  • Once modeling is involved, even if grounded in iconic resemblance, the model inherently deviates from the original referent.

    “According to MST, once modeling is involved, even if grounded in iconic resemblance, the model inherently deviates from the original referent (hence Sebeok's point that every act of modeling introduces noniconicity).”

    From Virtual Museums as Meaning-Modeling Systems in Digital Heritage (2025) · cites this paper as [28]

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
Sebeok, T. A., & Danesi, M.
ORCID
Danesi, Marcel
Venue
De Gruyter eBooks
Publisher
DE GRUYTER
Published
2000-12-31
DOI
10.1515/9783110816143
OpenAlex
W612154768
Cited by
308
References
0
Citations by year
2026: 11 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 14 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 34 · 2020: 15 · 2019: 14 · 2018: 32 · 2017: 11 · 2016: 14 · 2015: 13 · 2014: 10 · 2013: 10 · 2012: 16
FWCI
65.77
Type
book
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
De Gruyter eBooks (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Literature and Literary Theory › Semiotics and Representation Studies
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History and Philosophy of Science › Philosophy and History of Science
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Language and Linguistics › Umberto Eco and Semiotics
Keywords
biosemiotics, semiotics, meaning, signs, codes, representational forms, semiotic processes, animal communication

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review