Semiotics

Overview

Programme details

The Semiotics programme of Eötvös Loránd University The interdisciplinary Semiotics MA program at ELTE trains students to become well-trained specialists in semiotics of culture with a global overview of the various fields of humanities: literary studies, linguistics, philosophy, visual arts and general art studies – including approaches to the fine arts, films, theatre and music – and also the most contemporary methods of research synthetized from a semiotic methodological point of view. At the same time, choosing the specific field for degree thesis students can gain specialized knowledge in one subfield of the semiotics of humanities (e.g., the literary, visual, musical, theoretical semiotics, and ethnosemiotics). 

The program is designed to be flexible to motivate students to find the best Hungarian specialists in the given field and assist them to become involved in international research and dialogues with foreign scholars and lecturers. The curriculum consists of courses on the history and theory of semiotics; language, communication, texts and translation; theory of meaning, logic, argumentation; field studies of cultural, national and special semiotic systems; various forms of applied semiotics and semiotic pragmatics in general. The program also puts emphasis on the preparation of students for PhD studies to plan their research career.

This program enables students to become versatile experts on culture, having substantial knowledge and competence in understanding, analysing and influencing both general and specific cultural phenomena and the various forms of interaction and pragmatic exchange, and innovative system construction in general.

Strength of program

• an interdisciplinary orientation within the humanities;

• the application of the valuable research and methodological results of classical semiotics linking them to the most recent scholarly results in the discipline;

• equilibrium in teaching semiotic theory and its implications in applied semiotics;

• flexibility in encouraging students to find their own subfield by enabling their specialization (free option possibilities built into the curriculum);

• international context for research and education;

• offering perspectives for students for doctoral studies in directions not restricted to semiotics.