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Semiotics and Verbal Texts

How the News Media Construct a Crisis

  • Book
  • © 2017

Overview

Authors:
  1. Jane Gravells

    1. Aston University, Birmingham, United Kingdom

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  • Provides a template for other researchers aiming to describe the linguistic characteristics of large written data sets
  • Grounds a highly theoretical approach in the very concrete, well-known and accessible example of the BP Deepwater Horizon crisis of 2010
  • Integrates theory, data analysis and critique to analyze the fragmented, diverse and unbounded language used by the media in the coverage of a crisis

Part of the book series: Postdisciplinary Studies in Discourse (PSDS)

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Table of contents (15 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xvii
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  2. Written Language and Semiotics

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1
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    2. Researching the Representation of a Crisis

      • Jane Gravells
      Pages 3-26

    3. Semiotic Discourse Analysis

      • Jane Gravells
      Pages 27-42

  3. A Barthesian Conceptualisation of Written Language

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 43-43
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    2. Theoretical Foundations

      • Jane Gravells
      Pages 45-74

    3. Data Collection and Research Principles

      • Jane Gravells
      Pages 75-82

    4. A Barthesian Analysis of the BP Data in Four Stages

      • Jane Gravells
      Pages 83-87

    5. Stage 1: Contextualisation of the BP Texts

      • Jane Gravells
      Pages 89-100

    6. Stage 2: Preliminary Analysis of the BP Texts

      • Jane Gravells
      Pages 101-110

    7. Stage 3: A Depth Analysis at the Level of the Sign

      • Jane Gravells
      Pages 111-125

    8. Stage 3: A Depth Analysis at the Level of the Code

      • Jane Gravells
      Pages 127-165

    9. Stage 3: A Depth Analysis at the Level of Mythic Meanings

      • Jane Gravells
      Pages 167-178

    10. Stage 3: A Depth Analysis at the Level of Ideology

      • Jane Gravells
      Pages 179-189

    11. Stage 4: A Holistic Analysis of a Single Text

      • Jane Gravells
      Pages 191-197

  4. A Peircean Conceptualisation of Written Language

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 199-199
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    2. Theoretical Foundations

      • Jane Gravells
      Pages 201-212

    3. A Peircean Interpretation of the BP Data

      • Jane Gravells
      Pages 213-240

  5. Concluding Thoughts

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 241-241
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    2. Other Events, Other Contexts

      • Jane Gravells
      Pages 243-248
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Keywords

About this book

This book offers an innovative approach to analysing written texts, grounded in principles of semiotics. Envisaging whole news media representations as ‘signs’, and using the real-world example of the BP Deepwater Horizon crisis, the author demonstrates how business crises are constructed through language. Gravells identifies patterns of language which show a progression from one kind of ‘current news’ representation to a different kind of coverage.  This coverage positions the crisis as having symbolic and conventional meaning within varied social contexts, including the arts, business and the environment. Using a wealth of examples from the BP story to illustrate her practical research approach, Gravells draws ‘language maps’ of different phases of the crisis representation, showing how an early ‘iconic’ phase of representation moves through an ‘indexical’ to a ‘symbolic’ phase, and projects a return to a ‘naturalised icon’.  This book will be of interest to researchers andstudents of semiotics, those exploring research methods and linguists with an interest in business and media communications.

Reviews

“This important book marks a new departure in contemporary discourse analysis. Simultaneously deploying and extending semiotic theory, it traces convincingly how a media event passes from factual description to symbolic shorthand. By integrating theory, data analysis and critique in a strikingly innovative way, Gravells provides an exciting model for a new path of investigation which will enrich enquiry across a range of disciplines and at all levels of research.” (Guy Cook, Professor of Language in Education, King's College London, UK)

“Jane's engaging book helps us to understand the way people make sense of extreme events such as a business crisis over time. She argues for the concept of a spiral of representation that moves from supposed Iconic representation, through an Indexical to a Symbolic stage and back to a new 'naturalised' Icon. Her original application of semiotic models to news media discourse offers scholars new ways of conceptualizing, analysing and interpreting written as well as multimodal texts.” (Judith Baxter, Emeritus Professor of Applied Linguistics, Aston University, UK)

Authors and Affiliations

  • Aston University, Birmingham, United Kingdom

    Jane Gravells

About the author

Jane Gravells is a lecturer in Linguistics at Aston University. Her research interests have been in those areas where language and business intersect.  Her work in semiotics relates to the role of written language in multimodal texts.  Jane has taught applied linguistics and business studies at several leading universities. Before this, she had a successful career in qualitative Marketing Research.

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