Linguistic Frontiers
type: channel
description: Linguistic Frontiers is a peer-reviewed academic journal which focuses on the research and collaboration of linguistics and life sciences, mathematics and various social sciences and humanities applying formal or experimental approaches which are employed e.g. in traditional linguistic interdisciplines like quantitative linguistics, psycholinguistics, biosemiotics, sociolinguistics. The major aim is to transfer methods and topics among these fields of linguistic research. This website is a repository maintained by Palacký University, Olomouc, Czechia to handle submissions and keep back issues accessible. The official Sciendo website of our journal can be found here.
publisher: Sciendo
language: en
publication name: Linguistic Frontiers
issn: 2544-6339
items: Causation as Indexical Semeiosis
items: In Search of Lost Meaning
items: The Use of Nonbinary Language Strategies in Casual Ingroup Verbal Communication in the Czech LGBTQ+ Community
items: Introduction
items: Sonic (and Other) Environments as the Mirror of Society (and as the Challenge for Artistic Testimony)
items: Tracking Cognitive and Emotional Functions with fNIRS and Existential Graphs. A Study in Progress.
items: “Künstliche Erfahrungswelten” – How Digital Technology is mediating Human Experience
items: Aesthetics of Language Evolution
items: Exploring Life’s Boundaries
items: Visual Metaphor and Narrative
items: So, why Tartu?
items: The Library of Professor Kořenský as a Memorial and Source of Inspiration for Future Generations of Linguists
items: Dynamical Systems in the Work of Jan Kořenský
items: Jan Kořenský as a Proponent of Linguistic Pragmatics in Czechoslovak Linguistics
items: A Tribute to Jan Kořenský
items: Scientific Metaphor and its Noetic Ambivalence
items: Artificial Intelligence: Medium or Subject?
items: Construction and Reconstruction of the Language System
items: Foreword: The Legacy of Professor Jan Kořenský and Contemporary Horizons of Linguistics
items: In Search of a New Understanding of Barthes’s Concept of the Index
items: Sentiment analysis of cultural differences in online comments on popular news
items: The Sound Apparatus in Open World Games
items: Juri Lotman’s Cultural Explosion and its Function in Friendship Studies and the Pragmasphere
items: Pragmatic Challenges in Studies of Animal Acts. Interpreting Zoo- Communication from a Systemic Socio-Semiotic Perspective
items: Soundscapes of fear: resonance as a weapon and the sonic warfare continuum
items: Resonant Heels and ‘The Devil Wears Prada’
items: Between Face and Voice
items: Resonating with the Past
items: Emotional granularity – Vocabulary for mental health?
items: Kristeva’s Revolution in Poetic Language Today

Causation as Indexical Semeiosis
type: item
description: The concept of causation is widely regarded as a dyadic relation necessary for scientific inquiry, and as a basic component in discussions of biological mechanism, or of the same in other sciences. A re-examination of causation in view of Peirce’s Semeiotic shows that causation might more usefully be understood in terms of his Indexical Semeiosis analysis. By so proceeding, this hypothesis could yield useful experiments that show promise for removing some antinomies in sciences that are currently treated according to Necessitarian presuppositions.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Peirce's Semeiotic
  topic: keywords
subject: biological mechanism
  topic: keywords
subject: causation
  topic: keywords
subject: indexical semeiosis
  topic: keywords
creator: Kenneth Laine Ketner
rights: Copyright (c) 2026 Kenneth Laine Ketner https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2026-02-01
publication date: 2026-02-01

In Search of Lost Meaning
type: item
description: INTRODUCTION The following paper explores the evolution and significance of writing as a techné within the context of digital culture. It examines how semiotic concepts such as logos, arche, and patterns of representation shape meaning and impact the semiotics of writing in the age of digital dissemination. Writing is a vital tool for preserving and transmitting ideas and knowledge. Since its inception, it has been a means to communicate individual thoughts and emotions, encapsulating cultural narratives, collective histories, and unique human experiences for future generations—the readers of today. To study writing through the lens of information technologies offers insights into the evolving functions of information tools, shedding light on their impact on human communication, social interaction, and cultural memory. Driven by language models, the technological age is primarily formed by binary dyadic models. By blurring the distinctions between the writer and the message, as well as between the physical and digital realms, writing today contributes to reinterpreting the history of literacy. This transformation is accelerated by an increasingly digital dissemination, where digita codes model the structures of social communication and fuel the creation of mass content. Writing serves as a means to preserve the evolution of meaning. In his seminal work “Grammatology” (1997[1967]),. Jacques Derrida critiques the restraints put on our understanding of meaning processes imposed by a dyadic definition of the sign structure. The inherent dynamics of Saussure’s dyadic structure affect all signified concepts, restraining meaning between the signifier and signified. (Saussure 1966) Derrida confronts the challenge of uncovering the origins of meaning by proposing a shift from semiology—the study of the linguistic sign—to grammatology, the study of writing. “The advantage of this substitution will not only be to give to the theory of writing the scope needed to counter logoce…
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: meaning
  topic: keywords
subject: Derrida
  topic: keywords
subject: Technologies of Writing
  topic: keywords
subject: Cultural Memory
  topic: keywords
subject: Charles S. Peirce
  topic: keywords
creator: Elize Bisanz
rights: Copyright (c) 2026 Elize Bisanz https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2026-02-01
publication date: 2026-02-01

The Use of Nonbinary Language Strategies in Casual Ingroup Verbal Communication in the Czech LGBTQ+ Community
type: item
description: As a Slavic language, Czech poses very specific challenges for nonbinary language expression. The study of nonbinary Czech is a relatively recent field, and while various strategies for nonbinary Czech have been documented, data regarding their actual use in casual ingroup communication is limited. This paper presents the results of a qualitative analysis of several recordings conducted with two volunteer participants from the Czech LGBTQ+ community who employ different language strategies to express nonbinarity. We examine individual users’ preferences and document their efforts to creatively avoid gender markers. Additionally, we explore the consistency of these strategies, their mutual interactive influences and the reasons behind their use. We also corroborate some earlier findings with direct examples from our data.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Czech
  topic: keywords
subject: gender identity
  topic: keywords
subject: grammatical gender
  topic: keywords
subject: gender-neutral language
  topic: keywords
subject: nonbinary language
  topic: keywords
subject: verbal communication
  topic: keywords
creator: Miriama Holická
creator: Ivona Barešová
rights: Copyright (c) 2026 Miriama Holická, Ivona Barešová https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2026-02-01
publication date: 2026-02-01

Introduction
type: item
description: An introduction to the special issue of Linguistic Frontiers from the Summer retreat—hosted by Prof. Ľudmila Lacková Bennett and Eugenio Israel Chávez Barreto at Palacký University, Olomouc, Czech Republic (July 22–28, 2024).
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: introduction for special issue
  topic: keywords
subject: resonance
  topic: keywords
subject: semiotics
  topic: keywords
creator: Remo Gramigna
creator: Massimo Leone
creator: Gabriele Marino
rights: Copyright (c) 2026 Remo Gramigna, Massimo Leone, Gabriele Marino https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2026-02-01
publication date: 2026-02-01

Sonic (and Other) Environments as the Mirror of Society (and as the Challenge for Artistic Testimony)
type: item
description: The main topics of the paper are the (non)ecological dimensions of sonic and other environments in contemporary world reflecting the “suchness” and quality of certain cultures and society of global transcapitalism in its late phase of digitalisation, and devastation as well. Various social discursive and nondiscursive practices of this civilization influence very deeply our ways of living in many important dimensions—spiritual, moral, ecological, economic, political, and way of communication among others, which is mirrored in different sonic (and other) environments we are situated. The author refers to the special works of arts, kind of new musical discourses appropriating field recordings of unique environments, sonic sculptures, or intermedia installations in social-critical contexts as the testimonies of such artists as Bob Ostertag (USA), Peter Machajdík, Jonáš Gruska (both SK), among others.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: sonic environment
  topic: keywords
subject: sonic ecology
  topic: keywords
subject: digital transformations
  topic: keywords
subject: musical discourse
  topic: keywords
creator: Július Fujak
rights: Copyright (c) 2026 Július Fujak https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2026-02-01
publication date: 2026-02-01

Tracking Cognitive and Emotional Functions with fNIRS and Existential Graphs. A Study in Progress.
type: item
description: The main objective of the study is to assess the effectiveness of fNIRs in monitoring cognitive and emotional responses during a logical game activity. Additionally, the study explores the use of Existential Graphs as a tool for observing brain cognitive responses during problem-solving tasks. Through the fNIR device, the study measures oxygenation and deoxygenation levels in the frontal lobe while participants engage in cognitive activities such as attention, information processing, decision-making, and future planning. While the focus is on Existential Graphs, the study incorporates the block and puzzle game Tetris as a counter example to validate the findings. For this purpose, our study has for the first time applied Peirce’s Existential Graphs as a practical cognitive model to observe real time problem solving processing of the frontal lobe; the study is also the first to use fNIRs to study the brain activity while processing existential graphs.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Emotional response
  topic: keywords
subject: fNIRS
  topic: keywords
subject: Existential Graphs
  topic: keywords
subject: Charles S. Perice
  topic: keywords
creator: Elize Bisanz
creator: Brianna Sanchez
creator: Umar Mohammed
rights: Copyright (c) 2026 Elize Bisanz, Brianna Sanchez, Umar Mohammed https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2026-02-01
publication date: 2026-02-01

“Künstliche Erfahrungswelten” – How Digital Technology is mediating Human Experience
type: item
description: Experience is a vital element of human cognition; therefore, to learn something new, humans need new experiences. How can the use of artifacts1, such as instruments and technologies contribute to this objective? The idea of a direct experience of an object is not completely outdated. Still, it is becoming rare: communication is mediated by smartphones and apps, and instruments and computer simulations mediate scientific discoveries. Instead of visiting a museum, we can browse through its online collection. Hence, by designing the methodologies and technologies that mediate experience we are shaping the experience itself. The article introduces Charles S. Peirce’s concept of experience to discuss the structure of technological mediation of experience and the potential for artificial experience. It reflects on how digital technologies contribute to the development of new experiences to allow for new or deeper knowledge of our world.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Charles S. Peirce
  topic: keywords
subject: Experience
  topic: keywords
subject: Digital Technology
  topic: keywords
subject: Bioacoustics
  topic: keywords
subject: Spaceflight
  topic: keywords
creator: Stephanie Schneider
rights: Copyright (c) 2026 Stephanie Schneider https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2026-02-01
publication date: 2026-02-01

Aesthetics of Language Evolution
type: item
description: Could a theory of aesthetic sense-making help move domain-general theories of evolution beyond mere Darwinian assumptions? To show how this could work, I apply C. S. Peirce’s approach to analogy as active-inference and his triadic theory of evolution to an original language development case study involving novel paradigm formation over a six-week period by a child aged 1;07–1;09 in the domain of free play focused on a set of blocks. In referring to the blocks, the child produces creative lexical blends involving abstractions drawn from shape, colour, and food-based iconicities. In the process, evidence for three interacting (irreducible but interdependent) modes of language evolution emerge that are arguably domain-general: analogy, automation, and diagrammatization (previously defined in Pelkey 2013, 2015, 2019). The bridging connections in question require a process-oriented semiotic perspective grounded in the experiential, or tonal, relations of iconicity. The argument helps clarify the aesthetic nature of analogy by highlighting distinctions between analogic agency, automated processing, and diagrammatic process in ways that are germane for evolutionary theory in general, to better clarify the relationship between aesthetics as semiotic fitting (Kull 2022) and diagrammatization as semiotic evolution.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
creator: Jamin Pelkey
rights: Copyright (c) 2026 Jamin Pelkey https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2026-02-01
publication date: 2026-02-01

Exploring Life’s Boundaries
type: item
description: This article addresses the challenges of defining life by combining insights from biological and semi-otic perspectives. It explores the lexicographic complexity of defining life, analysing how definitions vary across scientific and philosophical contexts and how these definitions are shaped by cultural and ideological influences. The study highlights the importance of semiosis as a fundamental characteristic of living organisms, positioning biosemiotics as a fundamental framework for understanding life beyond mechanistic models, but also semiotics as a tool for unravelling scientific narratives. Historical and contemporary intentions to define the minimum threshold of complexity for life, highlighting how these efforts have evolved over time and their implications for modern biology. By examining different perspectives on the phenomenon of life and its intermediate forms, the article offers a critical and interdisciplinary approach to understanding life as a semiotic and interpretive process. The fact that an everyday concept of life is richer than the biologic concept of life (in the sense of a greater semantic flexibility and its encompassing character of embracing normative, emotional, sacred, and other aspects of life) may lead us to pose a contra-factual question: Could other notions of life have become basic for biology had it not been developed in the shadow of a hegemony of a mechanicist ideal of science during the 19th and 20th centuries; i.e., could life have become conceived of as something different from merely complex organizations of material particles and their energetic relations? (Emmeche 1998: 4)
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Biosemiotics; Complexity; Life; Threshold
  topic: keywords
creator: Nicola Zengiaro
rights: Copyright (c) 2026 Nicola Zengiaro https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2026-02-01
publication date: 2026-02-01

Visual Metaphor and Narrative
type: item
description: This article presents an interpretation of some functions performed by ekphrastic structures in the context of Ancient fictional narrative prose. Concrete examples are taken from two Ancient Greek novels: Daphnis and Chloe by Longus and Leucippe and Clitophon by Achilles Tatius. Using Olga Freidenberg’s conceptual and interpretative apparatus as a lens for reading the textual material, the central claim of the article is that within Ancient prose narrative, ekphrasis and metaphor are functionally interrelated, with ekphrasis serving to metaphorically embed narrative content within the mythological, affective, and genre-related fields of the textual production of meaning. At the same time, while adopting Freidenberg’s definition of metaphor as a primal state of cognitive indistinction between image and concept, the article attempts to go beyond her mythological interpretation of the Ancient novel and to provide a more socially and historically relevant understanding of the semantic features of this genre.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
creator: Bogdana Paskaleva
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Bogdana Paskaleva https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2025-01-02
publication date: 2025-01-02
starting page: 12
ending page: 20

So, why Tartu?
type: item
description: Tartu holds a special place in the history and education of semiotics and draws students from around the world. Semiotics is a learnt way of thinking and being, and so an induction into the field for international graduate students in Tartu is inseparable from its lived experience. This paper describes an account of living semiotics as a foreigner in Tartu, through its application to a personal field of interest, i.e. local underground nightlife and electronic dance music cultures. Besides offering strands of an analytical conception of nightlife and dance music cultures, this paper also reflects on students’ extracurricular commitments in this field to a cultural and artistic practice of applied semiotics.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
creator: Rahul Murdeshwar
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Rahul Murdeshwar https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2025-01-02
publication date: 2025-01-02
starting page: 1
ending page: 11

The Library of Professor Kořenský as a Memorial and Source of Inspiration for Future Generations of Linguists
type: item
description: Professor Kořenský was a prominent personality of Czech linguistics, whose extensive research work covered many areas, including grammar, semantics, discourse analysis, communication process, morphology and others. His work significantly influenced the development of linguistics as a discipline in the Czech Republic. The Library of Professor Kořenský, dedicated to his legacy, is an expression of respect to his personality and scientific work, but it is also a source of inspiration and knowledge for future generations of linguists. It consists of two complementary parts: a physical library and an online library. The physical library is located at the Department of General Linguistics of Palacký University in Olomouc and is open to the public. It provides access to the collection of publications by Professor Kořenský and other related publications. The online library contains a catalogue of publications available in the physical library, contact information, a selection of Professor Kořenský‘s articles and other information and links to resources about his life and scientific contributions. The library was founded in 2023 through the collective efforts of students and academics, with the fundamental mission to preserve Professor Kořenský‘s work and make it accessible to current and future generations of linguists. It is a valuable resource for students, academics and anyone interested in linguistics. The library provides access to a comprehensive collection of materials documenting Professor Kořenský‘s scholarly work.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
creator: Karel Čapka
creator: Klára Venglařová
rights: Copyright (c) 2026 Karel Čapka, Klára Venglařová https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2024-09-26
publication date: 2024-09-26
starting page: 35
ending page: 38

Dynamical Systems in the Work of Jan Kořenský
type: item
description: In the linguistic work of Jan Kořenský we find methodological inspiration from the theory of dynamical systems. The aim of this paper is to trace this inspiration in Kořenskýʼs key texts and to relate this conceptual borrowing to the time-specific (in the Czech environment, especially in the 1990s) interdisciplinary links between the humanities and the natural sciences. The text recalls Kořenskýʼs hypothesis about the relationship between order and chaos and the transformation of this central conceptual pair in the course of the development of the sciences at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries. (přeloženo pomocí DeepL)
subject: Articles
  topic: section
creator: Lukáš Zámečník
rights: Copyright (c) 2026 Lukáš Zámečník https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2024-09-26
publication date: 2024-09-26
starting page: 29
ending page: 34

Jan Kořenský as a Proponent of Linguistic Pragmatics in Czechoslovak Linguistics
type: item
description: In the work of Jan Kořenský, pragmatic topics were mentioned as early as in 1970s, first without being termed explicitly. In the most extensive and elaborated version, Kořenský presented his concept of relations among semantics, grammar and pragmatics in the 1984 book Konstrukce gramatiky ze sémantické báze (Construing grammar on the basis of semantics). In the book, a pragmatic component (pragmatic dimension) is included in the model of grammar as a factor pertaining to the functional properties of lexical and grammatical variables. Also, Kořenský introduced an original approach towards pragmatic interpretation of utterances (semantics of “being said“) which can be considered an inspiration for the concept of logophoricity in discourse (a phenomenon broader than the traditional notion of “reported speech“).
subject: Articles
  topic: section
creator: Milada Hirschová
rights: Copyright (c) 2026 Milada Hirschová https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2024-09-24
publication date: 2024-09-24
starting page: 24
ending page: 28

A Tribute to Jan Kořenský
type: item
description: The article „A Tribute to Jan Kořenský“ by Oldřich Uličný nostalgically reflects on the academic and personal life of Jan Kořenský, a significant Czech linguist, and their studies at the then Pedagogical University in Olomouc. The author recalls his first meeting with Kořenský in 1955, their studies, and cultural activities, as well as notable professors and the scientific growth at the Institute of the Czech Language in Prague. The article also documents their shared period during a turbulent time in Czech history, including normalization and political pressures that influenced their lives. Uličný highlights Kořenský‘s contributions to Czech linguistics, especially in semantics, pragmatics, and communication theory of language, concluding that his legacy and influence are evident in the work and enthusiasm of many generations of students. This remembrance draws from personal experiences and reveals the impact that their shared historical and academic journey may have had on the Czech linguistic community.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
creator: Oldřich Uličný
rights: Copyright (c) 2026 Oldřich Uličný https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2024-09-26
publication date: 2024-09-26
starting page: 22
ending page: 23

Scientific Metaphor and its Noetic Ambivalence
type: item
description: In this paper we revisit the inspiration of J. Kořenský’s work on the problem of metaphor in scientific reflection on language. For us, the notion of noetic instrumentalisation of metaphor is the main concept by which the author captures that metaphor is an essential tool for interpreting, representing and modelling the processes of linguistic activity. We find Kořenský’s analysis of the noetic instrumentalisation of game inspiring, pointing out that the same metaphorical concept allows, on the one hand, for unifying interpretations of language, but also for interpretations that are in an ambivalent or even polemical relationship. In our study, we analyse the noetic ambivalence of the metaphor of fabric, which functions as a means of interpreting language/speech in two conflicting methodological lines: on the one hand, in a structural linguistic methodological framework, where it harmonises with the instrumentalist approach to language; on the other hand, in a social interactionist framework, where the conceptualisation of speech activity as fabric is used to explain the socially practical linguistic reality of language. The aim of the analysis is to answer the question of what lies behind the noetic ambivalence of this metaphor. To explain this, we draw on J. Dolník’s (2014) reflections on the role of autonomisation in interpreting, and distinguish between the resultative and emergent nature of the metaphorical base in scientific interpretation using metaphor.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
creator: Alena Bohunická
creator: Oľga Orgoňová
rights: Copyright (c) 2026 Alena Bohunická, Oľga Orgoňová https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2024-09-26
publication date: 2024-09-26
starting page: 16
ending page: 21

Artificial Intelligence: Medium or Subject?
type: item
description: On the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the publication of the article “Theory of new media and the transformation of a medium into a subject?” by Jan Kořenský, one of the most influential Czech linguists, it is important to evaluate his influence and visionary ideas that remain relevant even today. In his 2014 article, Kořenský predicted fundamental changes caused by technological progress, where new communication technologies change their role from mere means to acting entities with profound impacts on society. When he made these predictions, ocial networks such as Facebook and Instagram were examples of technologies affecting interpersonal relationships and the identity of users. Today, a decade later, the debate is shifting to artificial intelligence, raising questions about the future of work and the role of humanity. This article not only reflects Kořensky’s analysis of technological change, but also explores the current concerns and potential impacts of AI on society, science, and ethics. Kořenský’s theories remain an inspiration not only for linguists, but also for the general public dealing with the influence of technology on our reality.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
creator: Ľudmila Lacková Bennett
rights: Copyright (c) 2026 Ľudmila Lacková Bennett https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2024-09-26
publication date: 2024-09-26
starting page: 15
ending page: 21

Construction and Reconstruction of the Language System
type: item
description: This study loosely follows on the brilliant condensed interpretations of Jan Kořenský on the status of speech (in the sense of parole) and its assumptions (in the sense of langue) from the position of subject-object noetics. The author focuses on the question of what real language is. He is concerned with whether langue is only a social reality (exists only in social interactions) or also a cognitive reality (exists in some way in the cognition of the communicators). In his interpretation of langue, it appears as a rational language system, against which he sets a practical language system with the question of what reality these systems represent. He is reluctant to accept the view that langue is somehow present in a practical linguistic system. He takes the position that while a rational language system is only a reality constructed by the mind (a construct), a practical language system is a reality that arose from the gradual coordination of communicative activities of social subjects, which introduced flexible and stable practical rules without having to create a system in the sense of langue, functioning as a presuppositional basis of speech. He illuminates these systems from the point of view of the basic question of the theory of knowledge connected with the understanding of truth, and he points out their practical usefulness. He starts from the thesis that man is a construction-reconstruction being, and aims to support the rehabilitation of correspondence truth.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
creator: Juraj Dolník
rights: Copyright (c) 2026 Juraj Dolník https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2024-09-06
publication date: 2024-09-06
starting page: 5
ending page: 14

Foreword: The Legacy of Professor Jan Kořenský and Contemporary Horizons of Linguistics
type: item
description: Foreword: The Legacy of Professor Jan Kořenský and Contemporary Horizons of Linguistics
subject: Articles
  topic: section
creator: Lenka Pivoňková
creator: Ľudmila Lacková Bennett
rights: Copyright (c) 2026 Lenka Pivoňková, Ľudmila Lacková Bennett https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2024-09-24
publication date: 2024-09-24
starting page: 1
ending page: 4

In Search of a New Understanding of Barthes’s Concept of the Index
type: item
description: Within the broad tradition of structuralism there are some differences in the treatment of extra-textual reality, character motivation, and the importance of plot. The article proposes some reconciliation between the Czech School and French narratology, centred around a revision of the concept of “index”. It also asserts a fundamental continuity between the devices of poetic language and those of narrative prose. In the first section of the paper it is shown that, when Roland Barthes adapts the notion of the index to his structural narratology, he vacillates somewhat about its definition and application, sometimes associating it with metaphor and sometimes with metonymy. A consistent reflection upon Barthes’ ambivalent use of the index makes it possible to describe narrative atmosphere as well as character psychology, but still within the parameters of structuralism. This reflection yields an understanding of index that is less formalistic and more compatible with the theorization of the Czech School, for whom character motivation was of major interest. The second part of the paper plays out some applications of this redefined index and poetic language for Czech literature, including examples from Vladislav Vančura and Milan Kundera.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Roland Barthes
  topic: keywords
subject: index
  topic: keywords
subject: narratology
  topic: keywords
subject: metaphor
  topic: keywords
subject: poetic language
  topic: keywords
subject: Jan Mukařovský
  topic: keywords
creator: Prof. Jakub Češka
rights: Copyright (c) 2026 Prof. Jakub Češka https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2026-02-01
publication date: 2026-02-01

Sentiment analysis of cultural differences in online comments on popular news
type: item
description: The rapid growth of online communication through social networks has created new opportunities for understanding public opinion on socially relevant issues. This research examines how sentiment analysis (SA) can reveal cultural differences, specifically analyzing Czech and Ukrainian online comments on news topics including the war in Ukraine, political discussions, public health issues (tick-borne diseases, COVID-19), LGBTQ+ community matters, and natural disasters. By comparing three large language models (GPT-3.5-Turbo, Twitter-XLM-Ro-BERTa, and Zephyr 7B) with native speaker evaluations, we assess whether AI-based sentiment analysis can accurately capture culturally-specific emotional expressions in medium-resource languages. Our dataset comprises 6,085 comments (2,999 Czech from X/Twitter, 3,086 Ukrainian from Telegram) collected during 2023, focusing on socially relevant news coverage. We employed a hybrid methodology combining machine learning analysis with expert validation by native speakers. The study addresses a critical gap in cross-cultural sentiment analysis research, as no previous studies have compared Czech and Ukrainian linguistic patterns in this context. Results demonstrate significant performance differences among models depending on language: GPT-3.5-Turbo achieved highest accuracy for Czech (p<0.001), while all models performed comparably for Ukrainian. Both populations showed predominantly negative sentiment (Czech: 69.93%, Ukrainian: 68.93% via GPT-3.5), reflecting shared emotional responses to crisis events.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: sentiment analysis (SA)
  topic: keywords
subject: cultural aspect
  topic: keywords
subject: artificial intelligence (AI)
  topic: keywords
subject: large linguistic models (LLMs)
  topic: keywords
subject: comments online
  topic: keywords
creator: Kateryna Hordiienko
creator: Libuše Kormaníková
rights: Copyright (c) 2026 Kateryna Hordiienko, Libuše Kormaníková https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2026-02-01
publication date: 2026-02-01

The Sound Apparatus in Open World Games
type: item
description: This study examines the role of soundscapes in open-world video games, with a focus on The Witcher 3 and Red Dead Redemption 2. It explores how dynamic music and adaptive audio systems serve as bridges between players and game world, fostering immersion and emotional engagement. Employing frameworks from semiotics, game studies, and cultural theory, the research discusses key concepts such as Karen Collin’s “participatory supplemental connotations”. Hartmut Rosa’s “resonance”, and Jean-Jacques Nattiez’s tripartite model and the dichotomy between memory and monument drawn by Jacoviello. Through an analysis of The Witcher 3’s Slavic-inspired soundscape and Red Dead Redemption 2’s nostalgic Western motifs, the paper illustrates how game music functions both as a cultural document and an interactive monument. The paper examines how adaptive musical cues, ambient soundscapes, and diegetic shifts support exploratory play, emotional resonance, and contextual storytelling in vast, dynamic virtual environments. The study positions game music not as a passive backdrop but as an interactive structure of signs, emotions, and narrative strategies.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: The Witcher 3
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subject: Red Dead Redemption 2
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subject: resonance
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subject: ludomusicology
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subject: semiotics
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creator: Silvestro Pizzati
creator: Letizia Tito
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Silvestro Pizzati, Letizia Tito https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2026-02-01
publication date: 2026-02-01

Juri Lotman’s Cultural Explosion and its Function in Friendship Studies and the Pragmasphere
type: item
description: In his 1992 work Culture and Explosion, Juri M. Lotman describes the notion of explosion as a “moment of unpredictability” (2009 [1992], 123). The concept of explosion entails the actualisation of one out of an array of possibilities with reference to a certain phenomenon. Although – on the surface level – the term may seem to suggest otherwise, the concept of explosion retains a quality of order. It implies the actualisation of one possibility out of a discrete set of possibilities, and does not correlate to a random or undefined actualisation (Lotman 2009 [1992], 123). Put another way, the term points to a chaotic realisation of a certain outcome that is ordered to the extent that the possible outcomes of the explosion must be finite. This article attempts to review Lotman’s primary texts, regarding the concept of cultural explosion and semiosphere. Further, the current work explores the ways in which the semiosphere and explosion concepts are relevant in friendship studies, and how they can be developed in the pragmasphere model.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Friendship
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subject: Love
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subject: Juri Lotman
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subject: Explosion
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subject: Semiosphere
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creator: Gabriel Matthew Bergman
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Gabriel Matthew Bergman https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2026-02-01
publication date: 2026-02-01

Pragmatic Challenges in Studies of Animal Acts. Interpreting Zoo- Communication from a Systemic Socio-Semiotic Perspective
type: item
description: Animals’ communicational acts are meta-studied based on a framework interrelating five aspects form, content, act, time, and space in a systemic perspective. Aspects relate to levels, sign, utterance, life-genre, and lifeworld and to processes. Six studies are investigated, positioning act as part of a web of communicational elements aiming at illustrating the pragmatic role act and life-genre play in sustaining animal life-functions. Re-interpretations of studies of signals, calls, and gestures further aim at enhancing the framework epistemologically and methodologically for the study of zoo-communicational pragmatics. It is suggested that since act tends to be treated as a limited category the field could benefit from a systemic perspective, one that allows balancing open-and closedness on all levels and between all aspects. Studies of great apes’ gestures are studied in particular, focusing which epistemic position acts have when communication is seen as systemic. The paper concludes that a socio-semiotic, systemic, and pragmatic framework can play a constructive role when designing and validating research on zoo-communicational acts.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: pragmatics
  topic: keywords
subject: animal life-functions
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subject: systemness
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subject: meta-studies of communication
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subject: animal acts
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subject: life-genres
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creator: Sigmund Ongstad
rights: Copyright (c) 2026 Sigmund Ongstad https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2026-02-01
publication date: 2026-02-01

Soundscapes of fear: resonance as a weapon and the sonic warfare continuum
type: item
description: The main goal of this article is to combine, within the context of sonic warfare, the concepts of soundscape (R. Murray Schafer), narrativity (Algirdas Greimas), and sonic warfare continuum (Steve Goodman), all interpreted through the lens of the resonance theory as postulated by Hartmut Rosa. The thesis is that resonance, as an unstoppable and affective force, contains a dangerous component that can be identified in so-called "sonic weapons" and “sonic war machines”. By identifying specific soundscapes and analyzing different sonic weapons, it becomes possible to use the sonic warfare continuum to study the resonance they establish with listeners, and one can also conceive different effects and inclinations towards the same "resonating" objects. To illustrate this theoretical framework, two recordings of Rudyard Kipling's poem Boots and their reception in different contexts and soundscapes will be analyzed. This will demonstrate how, within the sonic warfare continuum, different narratives surrounding sonic war machines push the listeners to react to similar stimulations. Therefore, listeners establish resonance through sonic war machines in powerful, tensive, and potentially threatening ways.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: resonance
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subject: sonic weapon
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subject: war
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subject: soundscape
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subject: sonic warfare
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subject: narrativity
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creator: Alessandra Giometti
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Alessandra Giometti https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2026-02-01
publication date: 2026-02-01

Resonant Heels and ‘The Devil Wears Prada’
type: item
description: This paper explores how the “sounding silhouette” (Stasiulite) – the sound produced by a dressed body – becomes a social value, that is, a semantic concept (Violi). It proposes a methodology for analysing the valences emerging from sounding and the values emerging from signalling silhouettes (community values), drawing on Peirce, Greimas, and Landowski. Through Ricoeur’s notion of identity, the sounding silhouette is shown to shape identity via four personae types: coherent (acceptance), indifferent (a priori rejection), rebel (a posteriori rejection), and aesthetic/ascetic (neutrality). This four types of personae developing from the relation with the values sent: accepted, rejected a priori or a posteriori or neutralized. These theories are applied to The Devil Wears Prada, where heels function as a signalling silhouette linked to power and willingness. This silhouette acts as interpellation, initiating dialogue with others. Using Marino and Santangelo’s framework on spreadability, the paper argues that in Western societies, the dominant shared values are power and willingness, tied to the construction of self-made identities.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: semiotics of fress
  topic: keywords
subject: The Deavil Wears Prada
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subject: sonic fashion
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subject: semiotics of fashion
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subject: identity
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subject: spreadability
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creator: Luca Losardo
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Luca Lusardo https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2026-02-01
publication date: 2026-02-01

Between Face and Voice
type: item
description: The aim of this study is to investigate the semiotic relationships that emerge from the interpretation of the face in relation to the sound of the voice, considering both as signifying expressions subject to layered semantic interpretation. Specifically, we will explore the relationship between the voice and the face, treating them as palimpsests in symbiotic signification. This approach draws on fundamental semiotic research into the face, examining how, being both an integral part of the phonatory apparatus and a modulator of vocal sound, it conveys culturally legible characteristics and generates meanings in connection with the voice, particularly in relation to the emotional dimension perceptible in both. Alongside this primary aim, a secondary objective emerges: to investigate, from an interdisciplinary perspective combining semiotics and cognitive science, the middle ground on which the contested boundary between nature and culture shifts. This reflection builds on analyses of the cultural interpretation of facial and vocal expression to reach the biological foundations of our semiotic system and its cultural ramifications.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: face
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subject: voice
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subject: palimpsest
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subject: mask
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subject: map
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creator: Andrea Miccolis
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Andrea Miccolis https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2026-02-01
publication date: 2026-02-01

Resonating with the Past
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description: Sound sculptures can serve as resonant mediums of remembrance, reawakening historical soundscapes and evoking memories through the use of sound. In this way, they enable a sensory connection to the past. This paper explores how sound functions as a semiotic resource, interacting with other modalities within sound sculptures and the contexts in which they are placed. It examines how memory can be accessed through the sense of hearing and investigates cases where sound memorializes historical events. I draw on a social semiotic approach, particularly Günter Kress’ theory of multimodality, considering sound sculptures as multimodal texts and multisensory objects. Complementing this, I employ sound theory and acoustic ecology studies, primarily the works of Raymond Murray Schafer, which provide a language for describing the sound modality within sound sculptures. To ground this exploration, I analyze sonic objects and sonic events in the sound sculptures by artists Bill Fontana, Markus Kison, and Nikita Kadan through the lenses of the acoustic ecology framework. These works exemplify how sound can operate as both a symbol and a mnemonic trigger, how its sensory and emotional dimensions contribute to memory-making processes.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: sound
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subject: sound sculpture
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subject: hearing
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subject: memory
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subject: multimodality
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creator: Mariia Korniietska
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Mariia Korniietska https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2026-02-01
publication date: 2026-02-01

Emotional granularity – Vocabulary for mental health?
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description: This paper presents a linguistic/semiotic critique of the notion of emotional granularity in the context of Lisa Feldman Barrett’s theory of constructed emotion. (Barrett 2017a) Barrett claims that emotional granularity, the usage of refined emotion vocabulary, has positive effects on coping and health. Barrett’s denial of basic emotions like fear or anger and her rejection of ethological perspectives put her theory out of sync with other recent approaches such as Panksepp’s Affective Neuroscience (e.g. Panksepp 2004) or Adolph’s Neuroscience of Emotions (Adolphs 2018). Although the idea of constructed emotion seemingly resonates with constructivist points of view, this paper challenges Barrett’s assumption that coping strategies depend on specific lexemes (i.e. emotional granularity) to construct and describe emotions. Barrett ignores relevant concepts in linguistics and semiotics and relies on convenient lab experiments and quantifiable results. Barrett’s conjectures about more ‘refined’ emotion vocabulary evoke problematic deficit theories long discredited by linguists (e.g. Labov 1970). Her recommendations for developing emotional granularity for the more ‘accurate’ description of emotions perpetuate assumptions about social background and vocabulary that extend 1960s deficit theories about education to elitist assumptions about class and mental health. By presenting emotional granularity as an antidote to alexithymia, Barrett contributes to an increasingly popular research agenda in psychology. Thure von Uexküll’s (1979) early criticism of alexithymia (in the context of psychosomatic medicine) provides the foundational (bio)semiotic concepts (derived from Jakob von Uexküll’s Umwelt theory) that expose Barrett’s problematic research methods (e.g. random images without context eliciting multiple choice vocabulary) and nomenclatural approach to emotion words. Discourse analysis and corpus linguistics offer neutral and unbiased descriptive approaches to how people …
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Emotional granularity – constructed emotion – affective neuroscience – verbal deficit – discourse analysis – Umwelt – Funktionskreis
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creator: Prisca Augustyn
rights: Copyright (c) 2026 Prisca Augustyn https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2026-02-01
publication date: 2026-02-01

Kristeva’s Revolution in Poetic Language Today
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description: This is a review of Emilia Angelova’s edited volume “Revolution in Poetic Language” Fifty Years Later: New Directions in Kristeva Studies. The volume commemorates the fiftieth anniversary of Kristeva’s magnum opus and explores whether the text, first published in 1974, retains its relevance when transposed to differing social, historical, or cultural contexts. The review discusses the various forms of this transposition as presented in the volume, offering insight into contemporary approaches within Kristeva studies.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Julia Kristeva
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subject: Revolution in Poetic Language
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subject: Anniversary
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subject: Speaking Subject
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subject: psychoanalysis
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subject: feminist theory
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subject: decolonial critique
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subject: contemporary reception
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creator: Lenka Vojtíšková
rights: Copyright (c) 2026 Lenka Vojtíšková https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2026-02-01
publication date: 2026-02-01