Richard J Parmentier

Biographic Data

ID80142
NAMERichard J Parmentier
GIVEN NAMESRichard J
FAMILY NAMEParmentier
SIGNATUREPARMENTIER R J
AFFILIATIONSBrandeis University
VERIFIEDNo
TOTAL WORKS59
TOTAL CITATIONS200
AUTHOR COUNT59
EDITOR COUNT0
FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR1984
LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR2022
H-INDEX8

  • Le monde ne sera plus jamais le même: Réflexions Sémiotiques Sur L’expérience Du Changement Soudain

    Open AccessRichard J ParmentierARTICLECygne noir2022References: 2

    D’un point de vue sémiotique, l’expérience du changement soudain peut impliquer ou bien un excès de signes ou bien une absence de signes, situations qui toutes deux entraînent l’incapacité de former une représentation cohérente et qui, donc, empêchent la compréhension. L’analyse comparative d’études de cas ethnographiques et historiques de changements soudains requiert de porter attention aux contingences contextuelles, au rôle des marqueurs sémi…

  • Classes of Signs

    Open AccessRichard J ParmentierOTHERThe International Encyclopedia of…2020

    This entry presents an overview of the history of thought about signs and semiosis in Western thought. It discusses classical authors, such as Aristotle, medieval authors, such as the Stoics and St. Augustine, and modern writers, such as Saussure and Peirce. The central part of the entry presents a systematic overview of Peirce's critique and synthesis of the classical and medieval traditions in formulating the distinctions central to modern semi…

  • Semiotics

    Open AccessRichard J ParmentierOTHERThe International Encyclopedia of…2020

    This entry presents an overview of the major developments in semiotics and semiology in the twentieth century. It begins with a systematic comparison of the basic ideas of Peirce and Saussure. It discusses early efforts by Benveniste and Jakobson to apply these ideas to the study of language. And it discusses efforts by other European writers, including Barthes, Lévi‐Strauss and Lotman, to apply these ideas to the study of different aspects of cu…

  • Representation, Symbol, and Semiosis: Signs of a Scholarly Collaboration

    Open AccessRichard J ParmentierARTICLESigns and Society2015Cited by: 1References: 3

    In focusing on “semiosis,” or sign process, the journal Signs and Society was established to advance through multidisciplinary research the theoretical work of Peirce, the founder of “semiotics,” and Saussure, the founder of “semiology.” This essay provides a brief “representation” of the history of the collaborative relationship between the Semiosis Research Center at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies and the Department of Anthropology at Bra…

  • The “Savvy Interpreter”: Performance and Interpretation in Pindar’s Victory Odes

    Open AccessNancy Felson, Richard J ParmentierARTICLESigns and Society2015References: 44

    Pindar’s epinikia challenge their original audiences to play the role of the “savvy interpreters” of these complex choral praise poems. Their interpretive skillfulness enables them to overcome obstacles purposively set by the poet. The ideal interpretation, an “entextualized” and overarching “metapragmatic interpretant,” is not static since these odes invite their hearers to vicariously travel alongside the deictically calibrated narrative ego an…

  • Representing Transcendence: The Semiosis of Real Presence

    Open AccessMassimo Leone, Richard J ParmentierARTICLESigns and Society2014Cited by: 9References: 18

    The double function of representation as “standing for” and “making present again” is explored in two case studies of ancient Egyptian cult statues and medieval Christian eucharistic transubstantiation. The experience of the “real presence” of the transcendent accomplished by ritual action is, in both cases, mediated by regimenting metasemiotic texts that proclaim and justify sacramental ontologies of transcendent realities that provide, in turn,…

  • Semiotic degeneracy of social life: Prolegomenon to a human science of semiosis

    Open AccessRichard J ParmentierARTICLESemiotica2014Cited by: 1

    This paper explores Peirce's method of semiotic exemplification by a careful examination of his thinking about the relationship between interpretation and replication, the subdivision of signs into genuine and degenerate classes, and the role of logically necessary systems of representation in guiding the growth of scientific knowledge. Examples of Peirce's forays into topics usually treated within the social sciences and humanities demonstrate b…

  • The world has changed forever: Semiotic reflections on the experience of sudden change

    Open AccessRichard J Parmentier, Richard J Parmentier Richard J ParmentierARTICLESemiotica2012

    From a semiotic point of view, the experience of sudden change can involve either an excess of signs or an absence of signs, both of which lead to an incapacity to form coherent representations and, thus, understandings. The comparative study of ethnographic and historical accounts of sudden change requires attention to contextual contingencies, the role of semiotic markers, degrees of heightened consciousness, and modes of symbolic indirection

  • Troubles with trichotomies: Reflections on the utility of Peirce's sign trichotomies for social analysis

    Open AccessRichard J ParmentierARTICLESemiotica2009References: 2

    This essay assesses the potentials and limitations of using Peirce's trichotomies of sign classes for social analysis, first, by examining selective applications of the model that rely primarily on the Icon-Index-Symbol division and, second, by exploring several extensions that move beyond a strict interpretation of Peirce. While process and complexity are shown to be not as productive as hoped, metasemiotic metaphors of replication are examined …

  • It's about time: On the semiotics of temporality

    Open AccessRichard J ParmentierARTICLELanguage & Communication2007Cited by: 15References: 4

  • Embedded Symmetries: Natural and Cultural . Dorothy K. Washburn

    Richard J ParmentierARTICLEJournal of Anthropological Research2005

  • Global Semiotics

    Open AccessRichard J ParmentierARTICLEJournal of Linguistic Anthropology2003

    Global Semiotics. Thomas A. Sebeok. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2001. xxiii. 238 pp

  • Representing semiotics in the new millennium

    Open AccessRichard J ParmentierARTICLESemiotica2002Cited by: 2References: 28

  • Money Walks, People Talk: Systemic and Transactional Dimensions of Palauan Exchange

    Open AccessRichard J ParmentierARTICLEL Homme2002Cited by: 7References: 11

    La monnaie passe, les gens parlent : les dimensions systémiques et transactionnelles de l'échange à Palau. – La traditionnelle monnaie de perle de Palau (Micronésie) est analysée dans une perspective sémiotique qui décrit le calcul systémique de la valeur et la stratégie des transactions sociales. Les associations culturelles établies par la monnaie peuvent être envisagées en combinant des données historiques, narratives et ethnographiques. Le di…

  • Talking Heads: Language, Metalanguage, and the Semiotics of Subjectivity

    Open AccessRichard J ParmentierARTICLEJournal of Linguistic Anthropology2001

    Talking Heads: Language, Metalanguage, and the Semiotics of Subjectivity. Benjamin Lee. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1997. 376 pp

  • Ritual: Perspectives and Dimensions. Catherine Bell

    Richard J ParmentierARTICLEHistory of Religions2000

  • In Near Ruins: Cultural Theory at the End of the Century

    Open AccessRichard J ParmentierREVIEWAmerican Ethnologist1999

    In Near Ruins: Cultural Theory at the End of the Century. Nicholas B. Dirks. ed. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1998. xvi. 308 pp., contributors, Index

  • Religion: A Humanist Interpretation. Raymond Firth

    Richard J ParmentierARTICLEHistory of Religions1998Cited by: 1

  • The New History in an Old Museum: Creating the Past at Colonial Williamsburg

    Richard J Parmentier, R Handler et al.ARTICLEAnthropological Quarterly1998

    The New History in an Old Museum: Creating the Past at Colonial Williamsburg. RICHARD HANDLER and ERIC GABLE. Durham NC: Duke University Press, 1997; 260 pp. Cultural anthropology's recent increased fascination with the reflexive ethnographic experience and concern with the material world as a locus of meaning are coupled in this meticulous and well written study of Colonial Williamsburg, a complex based on the reconstruction of the late eighteen…

  • The Matrix of Language: Contemporary Linguistic Anthropology

    Richard J Parmentier, Donald Brenneis et al.ARTICLEJournal of the Royal Anthropologica…1998Cited by: 7

    Introduction Learning Language, Learning Culture * What No Bedtime Story Means: Narrative Skills at Home and School Shirley Brice Heath. * Detective Stories at Dinnertime: Problem-Solving Through Co-Narration Elinor Ochs, Ruth Smith, and Carolyn Taylor. * Hard Words: A Functional Basis for Kaluli Discourse Steven Feld and Bambi B. Schieffelin. Gender, Power, And Discourse * A Cultural Approach to Male-Female Miscommunication Daniel N. Maltz and R…

  • Rongorongo, The Easter Island Script: History, Traditions, Texts

    Open AccessRichard J ParmentierARTICLEJournal of Linguistic Anthropology1998Cited by: 6

    Rongorongo, The Easter Island Script: History, Traditions, Texts. Steven Roger Fischer. Oxford Studies in Anthropological Linguistics 14. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1997. 714 pp

  • Exposing Prejudice: Puerto Rican Experiences of Language, Race, and Class

    Open AccessRichard J ParmentierARTICLEJournal of Linguistic Anthropology1998Cited by: 17

    Exposing Prejudice: Puerto Rican Experiences of Language, Race, and Class.Bonnie Urduoli. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1996. xiv, 222 pp

  • The Religions of Oceania. Tony Swain , Garry Trompf

    Richard J ParmentierARTICLEThe Journal of Religion1997

  • Social Reproduction and History in Melanesia: Mortuary Ritual, Gift Exchange, and Custom in the Tanga Islands

    Richard J Parmentier, Richard Parmentier et al.REVIEWEthnohistory1997

    1. Introduction: history, alterity, and a new (Melanesian) anthropology 2. Commoditization and the emergence of kastam 3. Kastam, bisnis and matriliny 4. Finishing the dead: an outline of Tangan mortuary feasts and exchanges 5. Replacing the dead: identical exchange and lineage succession 6. Performing lineage succession: feast giving and value-creation 7. Performing lineage succession: transformative exchange and the power of mortuary rites 8. C…

  • After Tylor: British Social Anthropology 1888-1951

    Richard J Parmentier, George W StockingARTICLEAnthropological Quarterly1997Cited by: 4