Brain, Mind and the Signifying Body An Ecosocial Semiotic Theory

by Thibault, Paul

• ISBN13: 9780826469656
• ISBN10: 0826469655
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-06-22
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic

Summary

Brain, Mind and the Signifying Body is an exploration of a multimodal theory of cognitive science. Using linguistic theories first developed by Saussure and more latterly by M.A.K. Halliday, Paul Thibault analyses how social and biological systems interact to produce meaning. This fascinating study will be of interest to undergraduates and academics researching cognitive linguistics and advanced semiotics.

Author Biography

Paul J. Thibault is Associate Professor in English Linguistics in the Dipartimento di Scienze del Linguaggio, University of Venice.

Table of Contents

List of Figures	ix
List of Tables	x
Foreword	xi
M. A. K. Halliday
Preface	xiii
PART I
Introduction
The Body-brain System, Meaning-making Activity, and Ecosocial Environment: Building a New, Unified Discourse	3	(5)
The Conceptual Framework of the Ecosocial Semiotic Perspective	8	(3)
Gibson's Ecological Theory of Perception and the Three-level Scalar Hierarchy View of Organism-plus-Environment Transactions	11	(7)
The Brain as Regulator of Sensori-motor Activity: Implications for Social Semiosis	18	(5)
Topological and Typological Modes of Semiotic-material Interdependence	23	(3)
Contextualization and Meta-redundancy	26	(4)
A Critique of the Causal View of Brain-mind Relations	30	(4)
Defining and Extending the Notion of Meaning in Terms of the Three-level Hierarchy and the Specification Hierarchy	34	(5)
The Signifying Body: Rethinking the Stratified view of Semiosis in Terms of the Three-level Scalar Hierarchy	39	(7)
Systemic-functional Linguistic Theory: Bringing Together the Intra-organism and Inter-organism Perspectives on Meaning-making	46	(3)
Reconnecting the Semiotic Concept of Value to the Body-brain System and to Meaning-making Activity	49	(5)
A Thumbnail Sketch of the Book	54	(5)
PART II
Sensori-motor Activity, Movement, and Social Meaning-making: Rethinking the Expression Plane of Semiosis
Some Early Signposts from Saussure and Hjelmslev: The Expression Plane as Embodied Articulatory Movement	59	(9)
Energy Exchange and the Complementarity of Interacting Body-brains	68	(1)
The Stratified Model of Semiosis: The Problem of Conceptual Abstractness and Scalar Homogeneity	69	(3)
Blackboxing the Sensori-motor Dimension: Language Seen as Modality-independent Centralized Processing Mechanism	72	(3)
The Intentional Character of `Inner' and `Outer' Sensori-motor Activity: Towards a Unified Account	75	(2)
The Symbolic Possibilities of Bodily Movement	77	(1)
Articulatory Movement Seen as Actional Semiotic, Not Physical Behaviour	78	(3)
Inner and Outer Body States and Social Semiosis	81	(2)
The Semiotic Mediation and Entraining of Embodied Bio-kinematic Potential	83	(3)
Metafunctional Diversity on the Expression Plane	86	(1)
The Expression Plane is the Interface between Body and Ecosocial Environment	87	(3)
The Metafunctional Basis of Vocal-tract Articulatory Activity	90	(4)
Subjectivity, Agency, and the Prosodic Realization of Interpersonal Meaning	94	(4)
Vocal-tract Gestures and Grammar: Symptom and/or Supervenience?	98	(2)
The Intentional Character of Articulatory Activity	100	(3)
Embodying the Metafunctions: The Example of Vocal-tract Articulatory Activity	103	(2)
The Metafunctional Basis of Space and of Bodily Movement in Ecosocial Space-time	105	(3)
Body Dynamics, Meaning-making, and Scale Heterogeneity: Expression and Content as Cross-scalar Semiotic Processes Embedding the Body-brain in its Ecosocial Environment
The Dynamical Character of Expression and Content and the Cross-coupling of Diverse Scalar Levels of Semiotic Organization	108	(1)
The Expression Stratum and the Principle of Alternation	109	(7)
Stratification in Relation to Expression and Content	116	(2)
The Integration of Iconic, Indexical and Symbolic Modes of Meaning in Phonology	118	(2)
Rhythm and the Foot	120	(2)
The Metafunctional Organization of Phonology as seen from the Perspective of Rhythm and the Foot	122	(4)
The Integration of Iconic, Indexical and Symbolic Modes of Meaning in Lexicogrammar	126	(8)
Language as Particle, Wave, and Field	134	(5)
The Brain as Selective Recognition System: Language and Edelman's Theory of Recategorization	139	(7)
The Integration of Individuals to their Semiotic Trajectories	146	(2)
The Intrinsically Time-bound Nature of Semiosis: The Integration of Temporal Dynamics Across Scales of Expression and Content	148	(6)
Scalar Heterogeneity and the Phonological and Lexicogrammatical Rank Scales	154	(8)
The Emergence of Linguistic Categories from the Child's Primary Forceful Interactions with its Environment	162	(9)
Part III
The Semiotic Basis of Consciousness
First-person and Third-person Accounts of Consciousness	171	(2)
The Representation of Subjective Experience in Consciousness in Relation to the Higher-scalar Environment of the Individual	173	(3)
Locating the Seat of Consciousness	176	(8)
The Meaning-making Capacity of the Body-brain Complex through the Discrimination of Difference	184	(5)
Language Functions and the Cortical Organization of the Brain: Implications for Higher-order Consciousness	189	(6)
Experiential Meaning and the Assimilation of the Phenomena of Experience to Knowable Categories	195	(3)
Interpersonal Meaning as Exploratory and Orienting Activity in Relation to the Ground	198	(2)
The Textual Metafunction as Semiotic Means for Giving Unity and Wholeness to Meaning-making	200	(1)
Experiential and Interpersonal Meaning in Gaze	201	(1)
Proto-interpersonal Meaning and the Child's Exploration of its Environment	202	(3)
Bogdan's Theory of Mental Sharing and Topical Predication	205	(4)
Interpersonal Meaning, Value, and Action	209	(3)
Procedural Knowledge, Declarative Knowledge and the Semiotic Spiral towards Symbolic Consciousness	212	(3)
Interpersonal Meaning, Goal-seeking Activity, and the Goal Hierarchy	215	(2)
Consciousness and Semiotic Stratification	217	(7)
An Alternative Reading of Descartes in the Internalist Perspective of Interpretive Activity	224	(2)
The Entropic Character of Meaning	226	(1)
Consciousness as the Contextualization of Experience in the Perspective of the Self	227	(4)
The Embedding of Consciousness in a Higher-scalar System of Interpretance	231	(5)
The Metafunctional Character of Consciousness: Some Correlations Between the Neurobiological and Semiotic Dimensions
The Contextual Character of Consciousness	236	(2)
The Metafunctions and the Shape of Consciousness	238	(3)
Vague Contours of the Metafunctions in the Infant's Early Perceptual-motor Engagements with the Environment	241	(5)
The Structure of (Self)Consciousness in Perceptual Awareness	246	(2)
Damasio's Neurobiological Theory of Consciousness	248	(9)
The Proto-metafunctional Structure of Core and Extended Consciousness	257	(7)
Integrating the Interaction System and the Meaning System Perspectives on (Self) Consciousness	264	(3)
Minding the Gap between Minds: Mirror Neurons and Interpersonal Meaning	267	(4)
Inner Speech as Linguistically Realized Higher-order Thinking	271	(1)
The Metafunctional Character of Inner Speech as Linguistically Constituted Thought	272	(4)
The Re-grounding of the Perspectives of Self and Other in Symbolic Consciousness	276	(1)
Text, Social Meaning-making Practices and Higher-order Consciousness	277	(4)
Brain, Meaning, and Consciousness
Biological and Socio-cultural Factors Form a Single System of Complexly Related and Interacting Factors: Putting Time and Activity Back into the Picture	281	(2)
Re-interpreting Flohr's Brain-based Theory of Phenomenal Awareness: A Three-level Hierarchy View of the Emergence of Proto-meaning in the Brain	283	(6)
Brain, Meaning, and Symbolic Consciousness	289	(1)
The Embodiment of the Material and the Conscious Modes in Expression and Content	290	(5)
Periodicity and the Intrinsic Temporal Organization of the Expression Stratum of Speech on Diverse Scalar Levels	295	(1)
The Creation of Symbolic Objects of Consciousness in Semantic Neural Space	296	(4)
Contextualizing Relations, the Principle of Meta-redundancy, and the Brain as Contextualizing Tool	300	(2)
A Definition of Consciousness in Terms of the Semiosis that Occurs Within the Brain	302	(8)
The Three-level Hierarchy, Neuronal Activity, and the Emergence of the Self-perspective	310	(4)
Epilogue	314	(4)
References	318	(13)
Name Index	331	(3)
Subject Index	334