Abstract
Social semiotics is now widely regarded as one of the leading research areas. This study is the first attempt to present a holistic overview of social semiotics based on the data in the Web of Science core collection database from 2001 to 2020. The study investigates, among other issues, social semiotics’ publishing tendency, the most productive authors, countries, institutions, and hotspots. The results exhibit a steady rise in its publications and citations. The current analysis verifies the growing quantitative and qualitative research contributions and influences of this field. Furthermore, what the journals focus on are the innovative and contemporary themes, manifested predominantly in sign, multimodality, gender, experimental semiotics, advertising, culture, and social media, which involve a wide range of methodologies to make the research more acceptable and constructive. These results are expected to offer refreshing insights that inspire scholars in formulating scientific agendas and advising their research strategies, thereby facilitating substantial contributions to the domain.
Funding source: Postgraduate Research & Practice Innovation Program of Jiangsu Province
Award Identifier / Grant number: KYCX21_3170
-
Research funding: This work is funded by the Postgraduate Research & Practice Innovation Program of Jiangsu Province (Yangzhou University) (KYCX21_3170).
-
Disclosure statement: No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
References
Airey, John & Cedric Linder. 2009. A disciplinary discourse perspective on university science learning: Achieving fluency in a critical constellation of modes. Journal of Research in Science Teaching 46(1). 27–49. https://doi.org/10.1002/tea.20265.Search in Google Scholar
Bakhtin, Mikhail. 1981. Discourse in the novel. In Michael Holquist (ed.), The dialogic imagination: Four essays, Caryl Emerson & Michael Holquist (trans.), 259–422. Austin: University of Texas Press.Search in Google Scholar
Baldry, Anthony & Paul J. Thibault. 2006. Multimodal transcription and text analysis. London/Oakville: Equinox.Search in Google Scholar
Barthes, Roland. 1964. Elements de semiologie. Paris: Editions du Seuil.Search in Google Scholar
Bezemer, Jeff & Kate Cowan. 2020. Exploring reading in social semiotics: Theory and methods. Education 3–13 49(1). 107–118. https://doi.org/10.1080/03004279.2020.1824706.Search in Google Scholar
Bezemer, Jeff & Gunther Kress. 2008. Writing in multimodal texts: A social semiotic account of designs for learning. Written Communication 25(2). 166–195. https://doi.org/10.1177/0741088307313177.Search in Google Scholar
Bonilla, Yarimar & Jonathan Rosa. 2015. Digital protest, hashtag ethnography, and the racial politics of social media in the United States. American Ethnologist 42(1). 4–17. https://doi.org/10.1111/amet.12112.Search in Google Scholar
Bucholtz, Mary & Kira Hall. 2005. Identity and interaction: A sociocultural linguistic approach. Discourse Studies 7(4–5). 585–614. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461445605054407.Search in Google Scholar
Chen, Chao-Mei. 2006. CiteSpace II: Detecting and visualizing emerging trends and transient patterns in scientific literature. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology 57. 359–377. https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.20317.Search in Google Scholar
Chen, Chao-Mei. 2016. CiteSpace: A practical guide for mapping scientific literature. New York: Nova Science.Search in Google Scholar
Calero Medina, Clara M. & Theo van Leeuwen. 2012. Seed journal citation network maps: A method based on network theory. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology 63(6). 1226–1234. https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.22631.Search in Google Scholar
De Bellis, Nicola. 2009. Bibliometrics and citation analysis: From the science citation index to cybermetrics. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press.Search in Google Scholar
Dong, Jie. 2020. Space, signs, and legitimate workers’ identities: An ethnography of a Beijing “urban village”. Social Semiotics 30(2). 151–167. https://doi.org/10.1080/10350330.2018.1532655.Search in Google Scholar
Eckert, Penelope. 2012. Three waves of variation study: The emergence of meaning in the study of sociolinguistic variation. Annual Review of Anthropology 41. 87–100. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-anthro-092611-145828.Search in Google Scholar
Eco, Umberto. 1976. A theory of semiotics. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.10.1007/978-1-349-15849-2Search in Google Scholar
Eco, Umberto. 1984. Semiotics and the philosophy of language. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.10.1007/978-1-349-17338-9Search in Google Scholar
Fomin, Ivan V. & Mikhail V. Ilyin. 2019. Social semiotics: Paths towards integrating social and semiotic knowledge. Sotsiologicheskii zhurnal 25(4). 123–141. https://doi.org/10.19181/socjour.2019.25.4.6822.Search in Google Scholar
Fusaroli, Riccardo, Bahador Bahrami, Karsten Olsen, Andreas Roepstorff, Geraint Rees, Chris Frith & Kristian Tylen. 2012. Coming to terms: Quantifying the benefits of linguistic coordination. Psychological Science 23(8). 931–939. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797612436816.Search in Google Scholar
Galban-Rodriguez, Ernesto, Deborah Torres-Ponjuan & Ricardo Arencibia-Jorge. 2021. Multidimensional quantitative analysis of the Cuban scientific output and its regional context. Scientometrics 126(3). 2643–2665. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-021-03904-3.Search in Google Scholar
Garfield, Eugene. 1979. Is citation analysis a legitimate evaluation tool? Scientometrics 4(1). 359–375. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf02019306.Search in Google Scholar
Halliday, Michael A. K. 1978. Language as social semiotic: The social interpretation of language and meaning. London: Edward Arnold.Search in Google Scholar
Halliday, Michael A. K. 1994. An introduction to functional grammar. London: Edward Arnold.Search in Google Scholar
Hammack, Phillip L. 2008. Narrative and the cultural psychology of identity. Personality and Social Psychology Review 12(3). 222–247. https://doi.org/10.1177/1088868308316892.Search in Google Scholar
Harkness, Nicholas. 2013. Softer soju in South Korea. Anthropological Theory 13(1–2). 12–30. https://doi.org/10.1177/1463499613483394.Search in Google Scholar
He, Yu-Fei. 2021. Towards a stratified metafunctional model of animation. Semiotica 239(1/4). 1–35. https://doi.org/10.1515/sem-2019-0078.Search in Google Scholar
Huan, Chang-Peng & Xin-Chao Guan. 2020. Sketching landscapes in discourse analysis (1978–2018): A bibliometric study. Discourse Studies 22(6). 697–719. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461445620928814.Search in Google Scholar
Humphreys, Ashlee. 2010. Semiotic structure and the legitimation of consumption practices: The case of casino gambling. Journal of Consumer Research 37(3). 490–510. https://doi.org/10.1086/652464.Search in Google Scholar
Hodge, Robert & Gunther Kress. 1988. Social semiotics. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.Search in Google Scholar
Khan, Nushrat, Mike Thelwall & Kayvan Kousha. 2021. Measuring the impact of biodiversity datasets: Data reuse, citations, and altmetrics. Scientometrics 126(4). 3621–3639. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-021-03890-6.Search in Google Scholar
Kockelman, Paul. 2005. The semiotic stance. Semiotica 157(1/4). 1–4. https://doi.org/10.1515/semi.2005.2005.157.1-4.233.Search in Google Scholar
Krase, Jerome & Timothy Shortell. 2011. On the spatial semiotics of vernacular landscapes in global cities. Visual Communication 10(3). 367–400. https://doi.org/10.1177/1470357211408821.Search in Google Scholar
Kress, Gunther & Robert Hodge. 1979. Language as ideology. London & Boston, MA: Routledge/Kegan Paul.Search in Google Scholar
Kress, Gunther & Theo van Leeuwen. 2006 [1996]. Reading images: The grammar of visual design. London: Routledge.10.4324/9780203619728Search in Google Scholar
Kress, Gunther & Theo van Leeuwen. 2001. Multimodal discourse: The modes and media of contemporary communication. London: Edward Arnold.Search in Google Scholar
Kress, Gunther. 2003. Literacy in the new media age. London: Routledge.10.4324/9780203299234Search in Google Scholar
Kress, Gunther. 2011. Partnerships in research: Multimodality and ethnography. Qualitative Research 11(3). 239–260. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468794111399836.Search in Google Scholar
Lei, Lei & Di-Lin Liu. 2019. Research trends in applied linguistics from 2005 to 2016: A bibliometric analysis and its Implications. Applied Linguistics 40(3). 540–561. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amy003.Search in Google Scholar
Lemke, Jay L. 1987. Strategic deployment of speech and action: A sociosemiotic analysis. In Jonathan Evans & John Deely (eds.), Semiotics 1983: Proceedings of the Semiotic Society of America “snowbird” conference, 67–79. New York: University Press of America.10.5840/cpsem198355Search in Google Scholar
Machin, David & Paul Cobley. 2020. Ethical food packaging and designed encounters with distant and exotic others. Semiotica 232(1/4). 251–271. https://doi.org/10.1515/sem-2019-0035.Search in Google Scholar
Machin, David & John E. Richardson. 2012. Discourses of unity and purpose in the sounds of fascist music: A multimodal approach. Critical Discourse Studies 9(4). 329–345. https://doi.org/10.1080/17405904.2012.713203.Search in Google Scholar
Meyer, Renate E., Markus A. Hoellerer, Dennis Jancsary & Theo Van Leeuwen. 2013. The visual dimension in organizing, organization, and organization research: Core ideas, current developments, and promising avenues. Academy of Management Annals 7(1). 489–555. https://doi.org/10.5465/19416520.2013.781867.Search in Google Scholar
Mondada, Lorenza. 2011. The interactional production of multiple spatialities within a participatory democracy meeting. Social Semiotics 21(2). 289–316. https://doi.org/10.1080/10350330.2011.548650.Search in Google Scholar
Nees, Jan van Eck & Ludo Waltman. 2010. Software survey: VOSviewer, a computer program for bibliometric mapping. Scientometrics 84. 523–538. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-009-0146-3.Search in Google Scholar
O’Halloran, Kay (ed.). 2004. Multimodal discourse analysis: Systemic-functional perspectives. London & New York: Continuum.Search in Google Scholar
O’Halloran, Kay, Sabine Tan, Duc-Son Pham, John Bateman & Andrew Vande Moere. 2018. A digital mixed methods research design: Integrating multimodal analysis with data mining and information visualization for big data analytics. Journal of Mixed Methods Research 12(1). 11–30. https://doi.org/10.1177/1558689816651015.Search in Google Scholar
Pink, Sarah. 2011. Multimodality, multisensoriality and ethnographic knowing: Social semiotics and the phenomenology of perception. Qualitative Research 3(11). 261–276. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468794111399835.Search in Google Scholar
Pritchard, Alan. 1969. Statistical bibliography or bibliometrics? Journal of Documentation 25. 348–349.10.1108/eb026482Search in Google Scholar
Small, Henry. 1999. Visualizing science by citation mapping. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology 50(9). 799–813. https://doi.org/10.1002/(sici)1097-4571(1999)50:9<799::aid-asi9>3.0.co;2-g.10.1002/(SICI)1097-4571(1999)50:9<799::AID-ASI9>3.0.CO;2-GSearch in Google Scholar
Stroud, Christopher & Sibonile Mpendukana. 2009. Towards a material ethnography of linguistic landscape: Multilingualism, mobility and space in a South African township. Journal of Sociolinguistics 13(3). 363–386. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9841.2009.00410.x.Search in Google Scholar
Thibault, Paul. 1991. Social semiotics as praxis. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.Search in Google Scholar
Thibault, Paul. 2000. The multimodal transcription of a television advertisement: Theory and practice. In Anthony Baldry (ed.), Multimodality and multimediality in the distance learning age, 331–385. Campobasso: Palladino Editore.Search in Google Scholar
van Leeuwen, Theo. 1999. Speech, sound, music. London: Macmillan.Search in Google Scholar
van Leeuwen, Theo. 2005. Introducing social semiotics. London: Routledge.10.4324/9780203647028Search in Google Scholar
van Raan, Anthony F. L. 2005a. For your citations only? Hot topics in bibliometric analysis. Measurement Interdisciplinary Research and Perspectives 1(3). 50–62. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15366359mea0301_7.Search in Google Scholar
van Raan, Anthony F. L. 2005b. Fatal attraction: Conceptual and methodological problems in the ranking of universities by bibliometric methods. Scientometrics 62. 133–143. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-005-0008-6.Search in Google Scholar
Wang, Lei & Shin Insik. 2019. Visualized analysis on multimodal social semiotics (1999–2019) based on CiteSpace. Design Research 4(2). 123–134.Search in Google Scholar
Zhao, Xin & Russell W. Belk. 2008. Politicizing consumer culture: Advertising’s appropriation of political ideology in China’s social transition. Journal of Consumer Research 35(2). 231–244. https://doi.org/10.1086/588747.Search in Google Scholar
© 2023 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston