Marcel Danesi

Designed for classroom use in a number of disciplines, this comprehensive introduction to cultural semiotics is also an easy-to-use reference for those who would like a better understanding of the topic. No other text provides this kind of practical framework for the classroom study of semiotics. Each of the 12 chapters is clearly written and self-contained.

This book considers various aspects of the meanings and functions of zodiacal systems, including how they affect belief systems, and how they have evolved over time.It explores the cultural significance of the Zodiac as a semiotic code for interpreting personal destinies as manifestations of stellar influences and as affirmations of the logic that governs the cosmos as a whole.The book traces the international history of Western astrology, from its origins in Babylon to its decline after the Enlightenment, up to its resurgence today as “pop astrology” in an era where social media and predictive algorithms can deliver customized personal horoscopes. Bringing together examples from the Western and Chinese zodiacal systems, it examines how the Zodiac semiotic enabled individuals across the world to interpret the date of their birth and the events that marked their daily lives in terms of the constellations and celestial conjunctions. It offers an engaging contribution to Zodiac scholarship by spanning various aspects of the meanings and functions of zodiacal systems.

USA TODAY Word Games is a lively collection of brain-teasing puzzles for fans of Wordle, Scrabble, word search, logic puzzles, riddles, and cryptograms. Calling all word lovers. Test your language skills, improve your concentration, and exercise your mind with these entertaining word puzzles Written by puzzle expert Marcel Danesi with USA TODAY, the nation's no. 1 newspaper, the book features a delightful mix of clever challenges, from jumbles to logic conundrums and word ladders.

Demonstrating how semiotic theory and method can be applied to decoding false representations and dangerous discourses, this book explores how semiotics can be used as a potentially powerful science of conscience. Confronting the sometimes negative perception of semiotics as academically inward-looking and lacking in morality, Marcel Danesi turns this view on its head. Instead, Danesi highlights how the same techniques that have allowed the use of semiotics for self-serving commercial purposes, such as advertising or marketing, could also be applied to deciphering current world problems. Through describing the semiotic notions and methods that can be used to analyze misrepresentations, propaganda, or meaning collapses, the book enables readers to become conscientiously aware of their hidden meanings and the harmful effects that they have on society. Identifying key issues of concern, such as climate change and anti-science discourses, it shows how they can be interpreted in terms of basic semiotic theory. This analysis of crucial issues demonstrates how semiotics can be used to raise awareness of critically important matters in modern society, and to encourage the development of more robust and ethical attitudes towards them.

This book aims to describe and demystify what makes organized criminal groups so culturally powerful. It examines their codes of conduct, initiation rites, secret communication methods, origin myths, symbols, and lifestyles that imbue them with the pride and nonchalance that go hand in hand with their criminal activities. Mobsters are everywhere, in the movies, on television, on websites, and now in the Metaverse. Contemporary societies across the globe are fascinated by them. Why is this so? What features and constituents of organized criminal gangs make them so emotionally powerful—to themselves and others? These are the questions that have guided the writing of the second edition of this textbook, which is intended as an introduction to organized crime from the angle of cultural analysis. Key topics included in this new edition:An historic overview of organized crime, including the social, economic, and cultural conditions that favor its developmentA description and character analysis of the type of people who make up organized criminal groups and the activities in which they engageThe symbols, rituals, codes, and languages that characterize criminal institutionsThe relationship between traditional organized crime, cybercrime, and evolving forms of crime on the Dark Web and in the MetaverseThe traditional and changing roles of women in organized crimeThe transnational operations of criminal groups Media portrayals of organized crimePolicing responses to organized crimeThe use of technologies by the organized criminal groupsThis new edition includes case studies and offers an accessible, interdisciplinary approach to the subject of organized crime. It is essential reading for students engaged with organized crime across criminology, sociology, anthropology, and psychology.

This book aims to describe and demystify what makes organized criminal groups so culturally powerful. It examines their codes of conduct, initiation rites, secret communication methods, origin myths, symbols, and lifestyles that imbue them with the pride and nonchalance that go hand in hand with their criminal activities. Mobsters are everywhere, in the movies, on television, on websites, and now in the Metaverse. Contemporary societies across the globe are fascinated by them. Why is this so? What features and constituents of organized criminal gangs make them so emotionally powerful—to themselves and others? These are the questions that have guided the writing of the second edition of this textbook, which is intended as an introduction to organized crime from the angle of cultural analysis. Key topics included in this new edition:An historic overview of organized crime, including the social, economic, and cultural conditions that favor its developmentA description and character analysis of the type of people who make up organized criminal groups and the activities in which they engageThe symbols, rituals, codes, and languages that characterize criminal institutionsThe relationship between traditional organized crime, cybercrime, and evolving forms of crime on the Dark Web and in the MetaverseThe traditional and changing roles of women in organized crimeThe transnational operations of criminal groups Media portrayals of organized crimePolicing responses to organized crimeThe use of technologies by the organized criminal groupsThis new edition includes case studies and offers an accessible, interdisciplinary approach to the subject of organized crime. It is essential reading for students engaged with organized crime across criminology, sociology, anthropology, and psychology.

This book takes an in-depth look at the tradition of solving puzzles and considers the psychological cause and effect of the "Aha moment": that familiar flash of sudden insight. Everyone loves a good puzzle, but why is this so? Is it because puzzles provide a form of escapism from the routines of daily life? Or do they reveal something fundamental or perhaps even primal about human cognition and consciousness?In this book, Marcel Danesi considers the importance of puzzles to the study of mind and culture and explores how they stimulate creative regions of the brain. Danesi explores the history of classic puzzles across time and cultural spaces and examines the psychological link between puzzle solving, mental imagery and visualization. He takes an in-depth look at the difference between puzzles and games based on systematic reasoning, as well as the role of language meaning and structure in the solving of riddles. Overall, the book puts forward the idea that puzzles provide cognitive data on how the brain might function when processing information, via the neurocircuitry that supports creativity.Examining all kinds of puzzles including verbal, nonverbal, and mathematical, Solving Puzzles with Neural Creativity will be of great interest to students and scholars of psychology, cognitive science, neuroscience, and anthropology.

This book takes an in-depth look at the tradition of solving puzzles and considers the psychological cause and effect of the "Aha moment": that familiar flash of sudden insight. Everyone loves a good puzzle, but why is this so? Is it because puzzles provide a form of escapism from the routines of daily life? Or do they reveal something fundamental or perhaps even primal about human cognition and consciousness?In this book, Marcel Danesi considers the importance of puzzles to the study of mind and culture and explores how they stimulate creative regions of the brain. Danesi explores the history of classic puzzles across time and cultural spaces and examines the psychological link between puzzle solving, mental imagery and visualization. He takes an in-depth look at the difference between puzzles and games based on systematic reasoning, as well as the role of language meaning and structure in the solving of riddles. Overall, the book puts forward the idea that puzzles provide cognitive data on how the brain might function when processing information, via the neurocircuitry that supports creativity.Examining all kinds of puzzles including verbal, nonverbal, and mathematical, Solving Puzzles with Neural Creativity will be of great interest to students and scholars of psychology, cognitive science, neuroscience, and anthropology.

This book uses blending theory in math cognition, and assesses the main aspect of this theory, called image schema theory. Applied work in math pedagogy has used this theory, but no work has assessed its validity. This book provides an overall assessment of the theory with regard to its validity in the study of math cognition. Overall, this book presents image schema theory as it has evolved today to mathematicians, cognitive scientists, and math educators, deriving from it any concrete implications for modeling math in computer science and, on the other side, for making math pedagogy more effective.

This book gives a general overview of Artificial Intelligence as it is impacting on the world of the arts and culture. What is AI-generated pop culture? What does a movie, a musical work, a novel, or song created entirely by a generative AI imply in terms of our notions of creativity? What is the semiotic dynamic (the meaning-making impulse that humans imprint in sign and textual forms) that is involved in an AI-produced work? No comprehensive treatment exists of the profound implications that AI-generated pop culture entails, including how it might affect cultural evolution and how we interpret artistic artifacts. Such a treatment is critical at this moment, and this book aims to fill this gap.

Propositiones ad acuendos juvenes (“Problems to Sharpen the Young”) is a ninth-century book written by medieval teacher and scholar Alcuin of York. Today, it has become one of the foundational texts in what is commonly called recreational mathematics. The book has been translated in many languages and analysed from various mathematical angles and perspectives, from contemporary arithmetic and geometry to the nature of sequences. It is not only a collection of ingenious and challenging puzzles, but the core ideas collected in this book have become major themes and branches of mathematics. Here, Marcel Danesi revisits all fifty-three problems in Alcuin's original text, providing detailed solutions and analyses. Alcuin's Recreational Mathematics examines the problems in the Propositiones in easy-to-follow language, extracting from them the notions and techniques that today constitute basic mathematics. Each chapter discusses Alcuin's problems more broadly, and ends with ten exploratory puzzles based on Alcuin's original problems and related themes. Answers and detailed solutions are included at the back. Alcuin's Recreational Mathematics demonstrates how Alcuin's Propositiones puts basic mathematical thinking on display via ingenious problems that often require outside-of-the-box thinking, constituting an original and imaginative investigation of mathematics in its essence.

Choose Barron’s for language learning--a trusted resource for over 50 years! This edition of 501 Italian Verbs provides language learners with fingertip access to a carefully curated selection of the 501 most common Italian verbs--in all tenses and moods! Each verb is listed alphabetically in chart form—one verb per page along with its English translation. Follow the clear, concise instruction, then take your language fluency to the next level with an all-new online activity center.This comprehensive guide also includes: Lists of synonyms, antonyms, idioms, and usage examples for every verb The popular 55 Essential Verbs feature, with an in-depth look at usage and formation for the trickiest Italian verbs Over 2,300 additional verbs conjugated like the 501 models Online content includes: A concise grammar review for easy reference Audio program modeling native speaker rhythms and pronunciation Four practice quizzes to help you practice German sentence completion, conversational dialogue, and word completion exercises Answer explanations for all questions plus a timed test option and scoring

In an age where fake news, conspiracy theories, and outright lies by political and cultural leaders are commonplace, we may be becoming accustomed to lying, or worse, even immune to it. Pseudology unravels the reasons for this by describing a “science of lying” that looks at various aspects of this trait, from how it affects the brain to how it distorts perception.Interest in lying goes back to antiquity and writing and debate has only increased in the present day, but what is missing is a treatment that synthesizes the work from linguists, political scientists, anthropologists, psychologists, neuroscientists, and sociologists, tying them to the philosophical and literary views of lying throughout history. Such a treatment can be called "pseudology": an interdisciplinary science for classifying, collating, and assessing ideas about lying. This book is a comprehensive treatment of pseudology, emphasising the importance of studying lying in our current climate. Pseudology addresses questions such as:• What is a lie?• Why do we lie?• Why are we so susceptible to lying?• How does lying activate false beliefs and generate hatred of others?• How has lying shaped the course of history (at least to some extent)?• How has lying been adopted as a basic thematic element in literature and the arts?Synthesising research from a broad range of disciplines and from the perspective of a leading cognitive linguist, this text weaves ideas and theories about lying cohesively into an overall interdisciplinary science. This landmark book is vital for students and scholars of language as well as anyone interested in politics, sociology, or psychology.

In an age where fake news, conspiracy theories, and outright lies by political and cultural leaders are commonplace, we may be becoming accustomed to lying, or worse, even immune to it. Pseudology unravels the reasons for this by describing a “science of lying” that looks at various aspects of this trait, from how it affects the brain to how it distorts perception.Interest in lying goes back to antiquity and writing and debate has only increased in the present day, but what is missing is a treatment that synthesizes the work from linguists, political scientists, anthropologists, psychologists, neuroscientists, and sociologists, tying them to the philosophical and literary views of lying throughout history. Such a treatment can be called "pseudology": an interdisciplinary science for classifying, collating, and assessing ideas about lying. This book is a comprehensive treatment of pseudology, emphasising the importance of studying lying in our current climate. Pseudology addresses questions such as:• What is a lie?• Why do we lie?• Why are we so susceptible to lying?• How does lying activate false beliefs and generate hatred of others?• How has lying shaped the course of history (at least to some extent)?• How has lying been adopted as a basic thematic element in literature and the arts?Synthesising research from a broad range of disciplines and from the perspective of a leading cognitive linguist, this text weaves ideas and theories about lying cohesively into an overall interdisciplinary science. This landmark book is vital for students and scholars of language as well as anyone interested in politics, sociology, or psychology.

This concise volume offers an accessible introduction to state-of-the-art artificial intelligence (AI) language models, providing a platform for their use in textual interpretation across the humanities and social sciences.The book outlines the affordances of new technologies for textual analysis, which has historically employed established approaches within the humanities. Neuman, Danesi, and Vilenchik argue that these different forms of analysis are indeed complementary, demonstrating the ways in which AI-based perspectives echo similar theoretical and methodological currents in traditional approaches while also offering new directions for research. The volume showcases examples from a wide range of texts, including novels, television shows, and films to illustrate the ways in which the latest AI technologies can be used for "dialoguing" with textual characters and examining textual meaning coherence. Illuminating the potential of AI language models to both enhance and extend research on the interpretation of texts, this book will appeal to scholars interested in cognitive approaches to the humanities in such fields as literary studies, discourse analysis, media studies, film studies, psychology, and artificial intelligence.

This book treats eighteenth-century Italian philosopher Giambattista Vico’s theory of poetic logic for the first time as the originating force in mathematics, transforming instinctive counting and spatial perception into poetic (metaphorical) symbolism that dovetails with the origin of language.

Emoji are a significant development in contemporary communication, deserving serious attention for their impact on both language use and society. Based on original mixed-methods research, this timely book focuses on emoji literacy across the healthcare landscape, with emphasis on how they are employed in healthcare worker and patient education. It situates emoji within a semioliteracy theoretical framework and presents the findings of a mixed methods study of emoji use as a literacy tool in a health professions course. Drawing on real-life case studies, it explores emoji literacy across a range of public health education contexts including doctor-to-industry, patient-to doctor, doctor-to-patient, and healthcare providers/CDC to global audience. It also advances a broader argument about the role of emoji in a paradigm shift of communication in education. This title is part of the Flip it Open Programme and may also be available Open Access. Check our website Cambridge Core for details.

Scientific evidence for the origin of speech is abundant, but evidence for the origin of language as separate from speech as a naming system remains speculative. What evidence can be utilized that will furnish relevant insights on the origin or language? This book attempts to provide an answer by suggesting that the first riddles of humanity, along with the first myths, reveal that language may have emerged as a mode of reflection via metaphor—a mode that involves blending speech forms together to produce complex, abstract cognition.