Catherine Tihanyi Georges Mounin, an important figure in contemporary French intellec­ tual life, has made significant and original contributions in semiotics, I semantics, poetics, the linguistic theory and practice of translation, and the study of the history of linguistics. He is noted as well for several dec­ ades of literary criticism in support of poets who were often unknown at the time. Though some of his work has been translated into German, Ital­ ian, and Spanish, only a few articles have been available so far in English (Mounin 1974, 1976, 1980, 1981); thus the present collection is the first full-length volume of Mounin's works to be translated into English. The contents of Semiotic Praxis reflect Mounin's life-long concern to apply semiotic theory to concrete objects. In so doing, he has attempted to demonstrate the usefulness of semiotics, to test and clarify its theoretical constructs and modify them accordingly, and to help lay down its scientific foundations and map its boundaries as a discipline.

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I. Introduction.- 1. Structuralism in 1980.- 2. Semiology in 1980.- 3. Communication, Linguistics, and Information Theory.- 4. Language and Communication.- II. Semiology and Gestural Communication.- 5. An Analysis of Indian Sign Language.- 6. An Encyclopedia of Sign Communication.- 7. Harlan Lane and Feral Children.- III. Toward a Semiology of The Image.- 8. Toward a Semiology of the Image: Introduction.- 9. Painting and Language.- 10. The Semiological Functioning of the Image.- 11. Semiology and Scientific Photography.- 12. Iconography and Semiology: Representations of the Crucifixion.- 13. The View of the Semiologist.- 14. Viewing Aix-en-Provence.- IV. Semiology and Medicine.- 15. Medical Semiology and Linguistic Semiology.- 16. The Linguistic Description and the Psychiatric Description of Language.- 17. Linguistics and Psychoanalysis.- V. Semiology and Chemistry.- 18. A Semiology of the Sign System of Chemistry.- VI. Semiology of Orientation in Urban Space.- 19. The Semiology of Orientation in Urban Space.- VII. Semiology and Legal Sciences.- 20. On the Correct Use of the Concept of Communication in the Legal Sciences.- VIII. Semiology and Mythology.- 21. The Battle of Bouvines and Structuralism.- Author Index.