A mistake, says Routledge

It was all a mistake, it turns out.

See also:

Book review "Discourses gone astray" (not) featured in "Education and multilingualism"

Book review "Discourses gone astray" (not) featured in "Education and multilingualism"

Routledge (Taylor & Francis) wrote me notifying me that my article (book review) "Discourses gone astray: restoring animality, humanity, and language" is featured in their Education and Multilingualism collection. However, I don´t see it there.

Chapter "Umwelt and language" available in Google Books

My recently published book chapter "Umwelt and language" is available in Google Books (full text, except for 5 pages or so). 

Mention of "Umwelt and language" chapter in introductory chapter

My chapter "Umwelt and language" (see recent post) is briefly mentioned in the introductory chapter of the book in which it appears:

Kull, Kalevi and Ekaterina Velmezova 2015. Language, Linguistics: Life, Biosemiotics... In Ekaterina Velmezova, Stephen J. Cowley and Kalevi Kull, Kalevi (Eds.), Biosemiotic Perspectives on Language and Linguistics (Biosemiotics 13) (Dordrecht: Springer), 1–10.

The reference appears on p. 7. Excerpt:

Morten Tønnessen’s contribution deals with language and umwelt. In this article, relations between these two “entities” turn out opposite in comparison with a “traditional” view.

Reference for "Umwelt and language"; product flyer

Here´s the reference for my article "Umwelt and language", which is being published in these days:

Tønnessen, Morten 2015. Umwelt and language. In Ekaterina Velmezova, Stephen J. Cowley and Kalevi Kull, Kalevi (Eds.), Biosemiotic Perspectives on Language and Linguistics (Biosemiotics 13) (Dordrecht: Springer), 77–96. Electronic versioon: DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-20663-9_5.

See also product flyer for the book. 

"Umwelt and language" scheduled for publication September 14th

The book Biosemiotic Perspectives on Language and Linguistics (eds. Velmezova, Kull, Cowley; = Biosemiotics 13), which will include my chapter "Umwelt and language", has been scheduled for publication September 14th. Product flyer available here.

Chapter "Umwelt and language" proof-read

Today I have proof-read my chapter "Umwelt and language" (see some relevant previous posts), which will soon appear in a volume in the Biosemiotics book series published by Springer.

Abstract: "Proto-language in wolves and dogs"

I have co-written an abstract, "Proto-language in wolves and dogs", with Paul Thibault, in connection with a prospective collection of chapters (upon invitation). 

Analysis of mentions of animals in political party programs: Reference incl. DOI; available online x 4

My report "Analyse av partiprogrammer for 2013-2017 utført for Dyreetikkonferansen 2013" [Analysis of political party programs for 2013–2017 – conducted for the Norwegian Animal Ethics Conference 2013] is now, in addition to via the webpage of Dyreetikkonferansen, available online (for viewing and download) via Academia.edu, ResearchGate and Scribd. At ResearchGate the NGO report has been given a DOI, see below.

Reference:

Tønnessen, Morten 2013. Analyse av partiprogrammer for 2013–2017 – utført for Dyreetikkonferansen 2013 [Analysis of political party programs for 2013–2017 – conducted for the Norwegian Animal Ethics Conference 2013]. NGO report. Oslo 2013: Dyreetikkonferansen. Available online (incl. via ResearchGate, DOI: 10.13140/2.1.3693.1203). 21pp.

Three more ETIS entries for 2013: Two contributions to abstract books, one linguistic report

As part of my reporting of 2013 activities related to the research project Dynamical Zoosemiotics and Animal Representations, I have added two contributions to abstract books and a report to my profile in the Estonian Research Information System, ETIS.

These are the abstracts:

Beever, Jonathan; Tönnessen, Morten (2013). Uexküll in Translation: “Darwin and the English Morality". Gatherings in biosemiotics 13. Organised by International Society for Biosemiotic Studies (ISBS) and University of Pisa, Castiglioncello, Italy, June 5-8 2013. , 2013, p. 105.

Tønnessen, Morten (2013). The ontogeny of the embryonic, fetal and infant human Umwelt. NASSVIII: Sign evolution on multiple time scales. Aarhus University May 29-31 2013. Organised by Nordic Association for Semiotic Studies and Aarhus University. Aarhus, Denmark:, 2013, p. 43.

And this is the report:

Tønnessen, Morten (2013). Analyse av partiprogrammer for 2013-2017. Utført for Dyreetikkonferansen 2013 [Analysis of politial party programs for 2013-2017. Conducted for the Norwegian Animal Ethics Conference 2013]. 21 pp. Available online.

This brings my activities in ETIS up to 64.

See also:
Annual zoosemiotics grant report submitted

EASLCE abstract (Tartu): "Animals qua sentient beings vs. animals qua resources"

This abstract has, some three days back, been submitted to the conference Framing Nature: Signs, Stories, and Ecologies of Meaning (The European Association for the Study of Literature, Culture, and the Environment (EASLCE) biennial conference), to be held in Tartu, Estonia, April 29th - May 3rd 2014:

Animals qua sentient beings vs. animals qua resources

A critical reading of the mentions of animals in Norwegian political party programs

Abstract

Morten Tønnessen

Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Stavanger

Chair of Minding Animals Norway

Inspired by Stibbe 2012, this paper presents the main findings of a simple linguistic study of the programs for the parliamentary term 2013-2017 of Norway’s nine biggest political parties. The corpus consists of 12 programs, since three of the parties operate with two programs, one focused on principles and the other on more practical questions. The study is divided into two parts, a word/morpheme frequency study, involving 23 entries with altogether 28 search terms (including “dyr” [animal], “dyreetikk” [animal ethics], “dyrevelferd” [animal welfare], “fisk” [fish], “fugl” [bird]), “rovdyr” [predator(s)] and a number of common animals) and a morpheme occurrence study. The latter results in complete overviews over the vocabulary applied in these political programs containing the morphemes “dyr” [animal], “rein” [reindeer] and “fisk” [fish].

The findings of the second part of the analysis show that the three mentioned morphemes are often included in wordings that imply a systematic omission of basic aspects of animal life and behaviour. In particular, the morphemes “fisk” [fish] and “rein” [reindeer] are predominantly, in fact almost exclusively, to be found in conceptual structures that constitute an objectification of animals, usually by reducing them to economic resources. This observation is consistent with one of the findings of the first part of the study, namely that “fisk” [fish], which is economically important in Norway, is mentioned some 300 times altogether in the corpus, whereas “fugl” [bird] is mentioned only 3 times. Even when applied as a word, “fisk” [fish] rarely refers to fish as living, sentient beings, but most often rather to fish products and governmental management of fisheries.

There are a few instances of statements connecting animal welfare and the like to the fishy vocabulary, but there is otherwise little correlation between the positive statements about animal ethics etc. on the one hand and the use of language whenever animals are mentioned elsewhere in the party programs on the other. The analysis thus shows that the choices of words that have been made in formulating the parties' policies for this parliamentary term in sum reveal a deep-seated anthropocentrism which stands in direct contrast to the good intentions, officially shared by several of the analyzed parties, of getting animal ethics higher up on the political agenda.

Reference

Stibbe, Arran. 2012. Animals Erased: Discourse, Ecology, and Reconnection with the Natural World. Middletown, Connecticut: Wesleyan University Press.

* This presentation is supported by the research project "Animals in Changing Environments: Cultural Mediation and Semiotic Analysis" (EEA Norway Grants EMP 151, 2013-2016).

Abstract submitted to Minding Animals Norway's 3rd research seminar; analysis of Norwegian political programs conducted

Yesterday I wrote and submitted the abstract "Ordvalg - en kritisk lesning av omtalen av dyr i norske partiprogrammer" [Word choice/election - a critical reading of the mention of animals in Norwegian political programs] for Minding Animals Norway's 3rd research seminar. My paper will be based of a linguistic analysis of the political programs of nine Norwegian political parties (21 pp).

The Norwegian language abstract of the talk has been posted in my Norwegian blog, Utopisk Realisme.

See also:

Minding Animals Norway's 3rd research seminar to be held August 23rd in Oslo

Reference to "Umwelt transitions" paper in Cowley article

My article "Umwelt transitions: Uexküll and environmental change" (Biosemiotics 2: 47-64) is referred to in a forthcoming article by Stephen Cowley, entitled "Human judgements and the language sciences".

September 12th: Founding meeting of International Society for the Study of Interactivity, Language and Cognition (ISSILC)

On September 12th at 6.30 pm, during the 1st International Conference on Interactivity, Language and Cognition (CILC - Odense, Denmark September 12-14 - see full programme here), a founding meeting of the International Society for the Study of Interactivity, Language and Cognition (ISSILC) will be held. The last few weeks I have been in correspondence with Sune Steffensen, Stephen Cowley and Paul Thibault concerning the new learned society's constitution, providing other constitutions as examples and giving input and feedback regarding the ISSILC's draft constitution, which will be treated at the founding meeting/General Assembly of ISSILC.