“ The same principle can be seen in a more consistent form, not in art, but in moralistic and religious texts such as parables, in myths and in proverbs. Repetitions found their way into proverbs at a time when they were not yet perceived aesthetically but had a much more important mnemonic or moralising function. ” -Yuri Lotman The quotation comes from Yuri Lotman, a prominent Soviet/Russian semiotician and cultural theorist. It appears in his book Universe of the Mind: A Semiotic Theory of Culture. In this passage, Lotman discusses repetition as a structural device in texts. He contrasts its role in "art", especially poetry and literary works, with its appearance in non-artistic, more "practical" or functional genres like parables , myths , and proverbs . Key ideas in the quotation Lotman observes that repetition, for example, parallel structures, redundant phrasing, rhythmic echoes, or symmetrical patterns, often appears in artistic texts. In art, such repetiti...
When a culture is analysed as a code or system (an also happens with natural languages), the processes of use are richer and less predictable that the semiotic model which explains them. Reconstructing a code of a culture does not mean explaining all the phenomena of that culture, but rather allows us to explain why that culture has produced those phenomena. -Umberto Eco (Universe of Mind) The above quote comes from Umberto Eco's introduction to Yuri Lotman's Universe of the Mind: A Semiotic Theory of Culture (1990), where Eco reflects on Lotman's ideas while drawing on his own semiotic framework. Here’s a clear breakdown of what the passage means: “When a culture is analysed as a code or system (and also happens with natural languages), the processes of use are richer and less predictable than the semiotic model which explains them.” A “ code ” or “ system ” in semiotics refers to a structured set of rules and conventions that allow signs (words, images, gestures, ...