Review Article: Studien zum Zeichenbegriff der sowjetischen Semiotik

A review of Peter Grzybek's Studien zum Zeichenbegriff der sowjetischen Semiotik (Moskauer und Tartuer Schule) ([Studies on the Sign Concept in Soviet Semiotics (Moscow-Tartu School)], Bochum: Universitatsverlag Dr. Norbert Brockmeyer, 1989). The author's treatment of ancient & modern semiotic concepts in relation to the Moscow-Tartu school's sign concept is summarized. It is concluded that the most important contribution of the book is to clarify Roman Jakobson's role in reinterpreting the Peircean triadic conception of sign as icon, index, & symbol. Both through Jakobson & via contact with the glossematic school, the Moscow-Tartu semioticians adopted a dyadic sign notion reconstructed by the author. 13 References. J. Hitchcock