索绪尔符号观再评价

语言符号的任意性是贯穿索绪尔语言符号学思想的一条重要原则.任意性理论的提出,并不纯粹是索绪尔本人对符号本质问题深刻反思的结果,而很大程度上得益于对其他许多非语言符号的比较.这是划分两类不同符号系统的一条重要标准.但是,索绪尔过分强调能指的形式侧面在符号结合体中的作用,相反对待号的能指侧面在物质质料构成上的特征,以及这些特征如何有助于区别开不同的符号体系这一问题,却注意不够.符号的解释主体对符号形态的认同,除了符号的所指功能外,实际上对符号的能指侧面的物质质料特征有着很大程度的偏重.这也是符号学的代码理论所要研究的重大问题.     

American citizenship and expatriatism: identity and politics outside the state

This article seeks to interrogate the concept of global citizenship through the disruptive lens of the American expatriate. The goal of this inquiry is to use empirical research done on American expatriates, including the results of a survey conducted by the authors, to better understand issues of citizenship and politics amongst American expatriates. The theoretical literature on citizenship and transnationalism argues that immigrants and expatriates help challenge the hegemony of the nation-state, a claim that can be tested by investigating how expatriates view their own experiences. By juxtaposing the empirical work of researchers focused on American expats with the theoretical work of citizenship and globalization theorists, we find that political affinity and national identity continue to matter for those living outside the USA, but within a larger global context. Thus, if the path envisioned by those who embrace globalization is to be followed, how might concepts of citizenship and national policy towards their citizens need to change?     

A semiotic study of regional branding reflected in the slogans of Korean regions

The purpose of the present analyses of regional slogans is to provide a semiotic perspective for understanding the symbolic communication systems involved in the construction of Korean regional governments. This study attempts to evaluate the slogans in terms of the semantic and morphological aspects of the texts. Findings show an overuse of signs within the slogans of regional governments that weakened the delivery of information regarding local identity. A leading slogan for a large region may create a unique identity in relative terms, whereas second-tier regions tend to mimic the success of others. The present research illustrates that each region of Korea cannot be differentiated in terms of a semantic analysis of linguistic signs. The communication tendencies that influence the creation of slogans for Korean regions are morphologically complex but semantically simple, resulting in the failure of these regions to secure distinctiveness in their individual brand identities.     

Legitimising male grooming through packaging discourse: a linguistic analysis

While packaging is a common marketing subject, this illustration paper provides an alternative perspective through the linguistic examination of packaging as discourse, focusing on male grooming, masculinity and metrosexuality. Male grooming is often perceived as trespassing into feminine space and creating ambiguity in gender borders. This study aims to explore how packaging designers negotiate masculinity, in order to persuade men to accept grooming products through social interactions within the packaging of L'Oréal Men Expert. Employing Scollon's mediated discourse analysis and incorporating the Barthesian order of signification, the study analyses how different social actions within the packaging discourse are mediated by multimodal features. The findings reveal five negotiating strategies, i.e. constructing a hegemonic masculine image; negotiating (a masculinised) metrosexuality; empowering men; giving men a logical reason to groom; and a different portrayal of skincare products. The key aim of this paper is to illustrate the differences between marketing and linguistics and propose possible collaboration.     

Kantian cosmopolitanism and its limits

The cosmopolitanism of the European Enlightenment was mostly a limited matter of a Eurocentric anti-nationalism promoting the ideal of Europe as an harmonious system of balancing states. Against this background, Kant’s cosmopolitan vision stands out as more inclusive because, far from restricting its concerns to Europe, it proposes to bring all of humanity together by locating its different sections in a developmental framework that runs from the most primitive of human conditions to the fullest development of Man’s moral and intellectual capacities. Like the developmental schema posited by Voltaire and the Scottish Enlightenment, this vision locates most of humanity at some distance behind Western Europe. It produces the appearance of a cosmopolitan inclusiveness by means of an equally cosmopolitan differentiation.     

Lingua franca fever: sceptical remarks

The policy push in favour of fostering a global lingua franca has shed overtly imperialistic underpinnings and been recast, but many of the same objections can be levelled at new attempts to justify an old policy. Efforts to explain the impetus towards linguistic uniformity through rational choice theory obscure the power dynamics behind choice of language in multilingual contexts. Invoking democratic engagement as a benefit of uniformity overestimates the role of linguistic diversity as a drag on participation and ignores more important forces. A focus on equality of opportunity and social mobility through lingua franca competence as justification for the policy reveals a shallow conception of equality and underplays the long-term consequences for non-lingua franca communities were equality of opportunity for individuals to be taken seriously. Finally, seeing the justice issues that arise out of competition between languages as one of ensuring adequate compensation to the losers underscores how thin is the conception of equality animating the approach; it purchases an inadequate level of equal opportunity for individuals at the expense of inequality amongst language communities.     

Book Reviews

The increase of multiculturalism in European societies poses challenges to citizenship education, which, in formal education, relies on national values and neglects the emergence of cosmopolitanism. This article compares the patriotic and cosmopolitan values of Russian-speaking students in Estonia, Latvia and the Russian Federation using the data of two large surveys. The analysis revealed that Russian-speaking adolescents in Estonia and Latvia demonstrate higher support of cosmopolitan values than the Estonians, Latvians, and students in the Russian Federation. A worrisome finding is that students in the cosmopolitan cluster do not firmly favor democratic values and are not interested in improving their civic knowledge.     

简论言语识别在文检中的应用

近年来,文件检验技术有了很大的发展,把语言学作为刑事技术手段应用于侦查破案中,为文件检验开拓了新的领域。在办案实践中,充分注意作案人的言语特征,通过对作案人的言语识别,能够在一定程度上为侦查工作提供方向和范围,为认定作案人提供客观依据。本文试以运用语言学知识,然后结合本地区实际和所办的案件探讨了如何从作案者的年龄、职业、文化程度和性别和地域特征等方面,给作案人“画像”。     

Beck's cosmopolitan politics

This article evaluates Ulrich Beck's cosmopolitan global politics. I argue that areas where Beck sees bases for communal and cosmopolitan politics are structured by power, inequality and conflict. Beck has a conflict perspective on local responses to globalization but this is not carried through to his global politics. There are issues that need to be tackled at a global level but I argue that this will have to be done on the basis of conflicting interests, power and nation-states as much as through global cosmopolitanism and co-operation.     

“国粹”与“种姓”：章太炎与连雅堂“语文”思想之比较

在二十世纪初期文化民族主义的大背景下比较了章太炎与连雅堂的语文思想,指出了章太炎"以国粹激动种姓"的语文思想与连雅堂"发扬种姓"、"继绝存亡"的文学观的相同思想背景,并结合大陆与台湾语文运动的具体语境分析了章、连二人与大陆及台湾新语文运动的互动关系.