Semiotic Evolution of "Rumor" in the Framework of Discursive Systems

• Main Author: Mohammad Hatefi
• Format: Article
• Language: fas
• Published: Alzahra University 2021-09-01
• Series: زبان پژوهی
• Subjects: rumor; discursive systems; value; digital logic; analog logic
• Online Access: https://jlr.alzahra.ac.ir/article_5320_b013925577e5e73f9ad525bdd457a401.pdf
• ISSN: 2008-8833; 2538-1989

INTRODUCTIONSigns can be placed not only in the construction of a sentence (speech) but also in an abstract linear system, with the difference that in speech, signs are not randomly placed in the order of accompaniment, but that production is said to be affected always from the characteristics of the human subjects (mediators or operators). MATERIALS AND METHODS The effect of mediators on the arrangement of signifiers in the process of speech and texts makes us use multiple and more complex variables in the analysis of signs and discursive systems. The sensory-perceptual mood of the sign user, affected by various phenomena and variables, affects the conditions for the production and reception of signs. These conditions make it necessary to consider different cognitive and emotional categories in analysis. These variables can be represented on the axis of tension and on the square of the discursive systems. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONThe question is: what is the difference between the production and reception of signs in both normal and abnormal situations (such as rumors) in terms of tension and discursive systems. The most common form of sign production and use can be found in a programmatic and logical discursive system. To the extent that we deviate from the normal situation, the ground is prepared for drawing an accident discursive system. The statement that is produced in the normal state of the signs can be considered equivalent to "news" in the conventional sense, and therefore the opposite point must be interpreted as "false" which, if prevalent, is considered a "rumor". The mechanism of overcoming the situation when "enunciation" can be considered as a rumor in the system of signification is the subject of the present study. The purpose of this article is to explain the mechanism of evolution of signs in the process of discursive evolution in which rumors are produced and transformed. The research hypothesis is that the phenomenon of rumor causes the emergence of an accidental discursive system. In this discursive system, due to the heavy reduction  in cognitive categories, the level of tension is at the highest level and the signs are very fluid. In order to examine this situation in a suitable literary text, a text called “The Power of the Rumor” was chosen. This text  has been produced and reproduced in various forms, itself as a rumor, in the context of the internet digital space. This text is like a rumor without evidence and has taken a different form in each reproduction. It seemed that this text will better show us the natural mechanism of producing and receiving a signal that carries the concept of rumor. CONCLUSIONThe results show that there is a set of factors that the process of discourse is always influenced by : the energies that affect the linguistic production of the narrator, the scope of vision, the perspective on which the linguistic production is formed, the linguistic challenges that determine the degree of tension in linguistic productions, the image that the narrator has of himself, his partner or discursive rival at all times, constantly changing individual methods or manners of speech that are formed based on cultural and social backgrounds, linguistic capabilities, temporal and spatial conditions, etc., and cognitive, emotional, aesthetic, sensory-perceptual elements. According to research findings, rumors, based on a sensory-perceptual error, in the form of an event, create an accidental discursive system. In the face of such a situation, ordinary people whose actions are more emotionally-reactive, respond in a rejectionist selective approach, but specialist subjects, whose actions are more rational, with an interactive approach, in the form of a communicative respond. There is a causal relationship between the cognitive state and the emotional stress of the actors and their actions and value systems. In this way, the ordinary people, with limited knowledge and under intensive emotional tension, draw an absolute and closed value system, but a specialized subject, with extensive recognition and under low emotional stress, illustrates democratic and open value system. According to the results of this study, accidental discursive system is at the beginning of this process and a programmatic discursive system in its precursor. Ordinary people, due to the lack of cognition and foresight, provide digital logic and strengthen the risky aspect of the system, However, the elites and specialized subjects, based on analog logic, gradually evolve the process of evolution of signs which they direct it till the final goal.According to the research’s results, rumor is a semantic defect produced by the narrator whose physical and sensory-perceptual base is defective (defect, disease) and occurs as an accident. Bringing back the discourse to its ordinary logical situation needs a rational management.