A New Semiotics: An Introductory Guide for Students

A New Semiotics is an introductory guide to the field of semiotics. Assuming no prior knowledge of semiotics, this accessible text takes a fresh look at semiotics and suggests that many of the forebears and many contemporary contributors to semiotics have misconstrued the nature of their work.

The authors start off by asking ‘What is semiotics?’ and go on to outline a journey towards a new semiotics. It offers a clearer way forward out of the prison of complexity invented by the fathers of contemporary semiotics―Peirce and Saussure. Each chapter ends with a summary, exercises and discussion points for students, and further reading.

This is the ideal text for introductory courses in semiotics within linguistics, communication studies, visual arts and related areas.

David Sless is the Founder and Director of the Communication Research Institute (CRI). Before leaving academia, he was Senior Lecturer in Verbal and Visual Communication at Flinders University South Australia, Visiting Professor Coventry University UK, and Adjunct Professor at the Australian National University Canberra and the University of Technology Sydney.

Ruth Shrensky is a researcher and editor at the Communication Research Institute. Until her retirement from academia, she was Lecturer in English and Communication at the University of Canberra, then Academic Skills Adviser at La Trobe University Melbourne. She was awarded a PhD with distinction for her thesis The Ontology of Communication.