The DOI matches its Crossref record.
The Forms of Meaning: Modeling Systems Theory and Semiotic Analysis
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.
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In the citing paper
“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]
In the citing paper
“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]
In the citing paper
“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]
In the citing paper
“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]
In the citing paper
“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]
In the citing paper
“As described in MST, the virtual museum operates as a complex modeling system.”
From Virtual Museums as Meaning-Modeling Systems in Digital Heritage (2025) · cites this paper as [28]
In the citing paper
“First, the museum itself is a vast semiotic system, and virtual museums are no exception.”
From Virtual Museums as Meaning-Modeling Systems in Digital Heritage (2025) · cites this paper as [28]
In the citing paper
“Unlike language, which MST identifies as a secondary modeling system, the virtual museum here can be viewed as a tertiary system (cf.Sebeok and Danesi 2000, 83-85 [28]).”
From Virtual Museums as Meaning-Modeling Systems in Digital Heritage (2025) · cites this paper as [28]
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Metadata
- Authors
- Sebeok, T. A., & Danesi, M.
- ORCID
- Danesi, Marcel
- Venue
- De Gruyter eBooks
- Publisher
- DE GRUYTER
- Published
- 2000-12-31
- 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 of Biology and Scientific Explanation
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Language and Linguistics › Umberto Eco and Semiotics
- Keywords
- biosemiotics, semiotics, meaning, signs, codes, representational forms, semiotic processes, animal communication
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