Animal representations in Margaret Atwood's novels:a study based on pan-indexicality model

Margaret Atwood is a Canadian author of more than thirty-five books and the winner of prestigious literary prizes,such as the Booker Prize,the Giller Prize,and the Governor General's Award.Her influence on Canadian literature and contemporary literature as a whole is phenomenal.Nevertheless,little is known with respect to how Atwood represents animals covering the full range of her novels.This paper reports on the analysis of animal representations in Atwood's seventeen novels through Python programming and close reading under the framework of a new semiotic research finding,a pan-indexicality model within the context of literature and the environment.This study investigates the frequencies of animal vocabulary in the seventeen novels,the changes of animal representations in her novels before 1990s and after 1990s,and the implication of the ever-changing animal representations during the fty years.This paper concludes that nonhuman animal descriptions in Atwood's novels of 1970s and 1980s run at a high level and decrease in her novels of 1990s,while scientific animal descriptions increase in her novels of 2000s and 2010s.Nonhuman animals in her novels of 1970s and 1980s are instrumentalized as a vehicle for indigenization and national individuation from the United States,and scientific animals in her novels of 2000s and 2010s are instrumentalized in the service of environmental apocalypticism.This study suggests that the pan-indexicality model can be employed to understand the meaning of signs in literature and the environment from the perspective of authorial intention,with reference to authors'encyclopedic knowledge,personal experience,social,and cultural background information.

On the Indexical Nature of Language

In linguistics as well as semiotics,words have long been deemed as symbols instead of icons or indexes.Although in some particular cases words can be iconic,such as the Chinese characters日,月,火,etc.,or indexical,such as pronouns(e.g.,he,she,it)and demonstratives(e.g.,this,that,these,those),most words are believed to be symbols,whose signifier and signified sustain an arbitrary relation in nature.Icon and symbol are distinct concepts and have been clearly defined to a large extent,but index seems to be rather vague in signification.Based on relevant research and Peirce’s trichotomy of signs,we propose a pan-indexicality model used for interpreting linguistic signs.In this model,a linguistic sign is taken as an index that guides the addressee to search for objects or senses at three levels,i.e.,the formal sense level,the conventional sense level,and the overall sense level.Interference of the Interpretant in meaning understanding varies at two general levels.At the formal and conventional levels,it is the Interpretanti(knowledge shared by both the addresser and the addressee)that determines meaning understanding,but at the overall sense level,the personalized Interpretantii(knowledge owned solely by the addressee)plays a key role.Throughout the whole pan-indexicality process,formal sense and the Interpretantii are two key factors that are related to the particular and distinct features of English and Chinese.

Sign and indexicality:a case study of enhancing alignment of situation models in SCWT

The story continuationwriting task(SCWT)is anewly emerging proficiency test of National Matriculation English Test(NMET)in three provinces in China.Nevertheless,little is known with respect to how test-takers enhance their alignment of situation models in SCWT.This paper reports on a case study of the development of situational alignment of one L2(second language)learner in a senior high school in Jiangsu Province,China,drawing on qualitative data collected via individual faceto-face interviews,and supplemented by face-to-face conversations and email exchanges,over a period of one year.This study investigates how the test-taker enhances her alignment of situation models,and what factors contribute to her development of situational alignment under the framework of a new semiotic research finding,a pan-indexicality model.This paper concludes that test-takers possess the capacity of developing their alignment of situation models,and that a pan-indexicality model,affording opportunities for test-takers to accurately decode the meaning of a linguistic sign at the overall sense level,plays a decisive role in identifying and integrating key dimensions of situation models and eventually enhancing test-takers’situational alignment.This study suggests that a pan-indexicality model can be employed by test-takers to understand the meaning of a linguistic sign at the overall sense level,and test-takers’encyclopedic knowledge,contextual information,and personal emotions regarding a linguistic sign should be highlighted in classroom instruction to help test-takers construct aligned situation models in SCWT.