Beyond the symbol: Deconstructing social reality

On the intellectual structure of the human communication discipline

“…6 Although human communication scholars have not written extensively on the semiotic foundations of tier-1 theory, several contributions are nevertheless available that provide a flavor of this level of our disciplinary research. Among the contributions to basic semiotic theory are the following: Aune's (1983) analysis of the symbol and social reality, Buttny's (1986) description of a Wittgensteinian perspective on meaning, Cherwitz's (1981) application of Morris's semiotic theory to rhetorical criticism, Corcoran's (1981) critique of the use of linguistic models for the semiotic analysis of screen media, Cronkhite's (1986) adaptation of Peircean concepts in preparation for arguing that the study of human symbolic activity characterizes the general focus, scope and source of coherence for our discipline, Glynn's (1986) deconstructionist interpretation of the role of symbols in the construction of social reality, Harris's (1984) analysis of language as a sign system, Hillbruner's (1985) treatment of language as an icon in rhetorical criticism and theory, Liska's (1993) adaptation of Peircean concepts to analyze the relation of non-human sign systems to human ones, Lyne's (1980) interpretation of the place of rhetoric in C. S. Peirce's semiotic theory, and Stewart's (1972Stewart's ( , 1986 critiques of various semiotic theories from a hermeneutic point of view.…”