Winfried Nöth (born September 12, 1944 in

Gerolzhofen Gerolzhofen () is a town in the district of Schweinfurt, Bavaria, Germany. The town is the former center of the district of Gerolzhofen and has about 7,000 inhabitants. The mayor of Gerolzhofen is Thorsten Wozniak (CSU). GerolzhofenStadtpfarrkirc ...

) is a German

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...

and

semiotician Semiotics (also called semiotic studies) is the systematic study of sign processes (semiosis) and meaning making. Semiosis is any activity, conduct, or process that involves signs, where a sign is defined as anything that communicates something, ...

. After graduating from high school in 1963 in Brunswick, from 1965 to 1969 Nöth studied English, French and Portuguese in Münster, Geneva, Lisbon and Bochum, and in 1971 acquired his doctoral degrees at the

Ruhr University Bochum The Ruhr University Bochum (, ) is a public research university located in the southern hills of the central Ruhr area, Bochum, Germany. It was founded in 1962 as the first new public university in Germany after World War II. Instruction began in ...

. In Bochum he also

habilitated Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in many European countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excellence in research, teaching and further education, usually including a ...

in 1976 and became assistant to Walter A. Koch. After teaching in Bochum and Aachen, in 1978 he was appointed full professor in English Linguistics at the

University of Kassel The University of Kassel (german: link=no, Universität Kassel) is a university founded in 1971 located in Kassel, Hessen, in central Germany. As of February 2022 it had about 25,000 students and about 3300 staff, including more than 300 profe ...

. In 1985 Nöth was visiting professor at the

University of Wisconsin–Green Bay The University of Wisconsin–Green Bay (UW-Green Bay, UWGB, or Green Bay) is a public university in Green Bay, Wisconsin, with regional campuses in Marinette, Manitowoc, and Sheboygan. Founded in 1965, it is part of the University of Wiscons ...

in Green Bay, Wisconsin, United States, and in 1994 at the Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo in Brazil. Since 1999 he has been Director of the Scientific Centre for Cultural Research, University of Kassel, and President of the German Society for Semiotics. His ''Handbook of Semiotics'' (first published 1985) gives a comprehensive overview of the history and various orientations of semiotics and presents the most important representatives.

Selected publications

* Winfried Nöth: ''Strukturen des Happenings''. Olms, Hildesheim/New York 1972 * Winfried Nöth: ''Semiotik: Eine Einführung mit Beispielen für Reklameanalysen''. Niemeyer, Tübingen 1975 * Winfried Nöth: ''Dynamik semiotischer Systeme: Vom altenglischen Zauberspruch zum illustrierten Werbetext''. Metzler, Stuttgart 1977. * Winfried Nöth: ''Literatursemiotische Analysen – zu Lewis Carrolls Alice-Büchern''. Narr, Tübingen 1980 * Winfried Nöth: ''Handbuch der Semiotik''. 2., vollständig neu bearbeitete Auflage. Metzler, Stuttgart/Weimar 2000 * Winfried Nöth/Nina Bishara/Britta Neitzel: ''Mediale Selbstreferenz: Grundlagen und Fallstudien zu Werbung, Computerspiel und Comics''. Halem, Köln 2008.

External links

* (Home page) {{DEFAULTSORT:Noth, Winfried 1944 births Living people Linguists from Germany German semioticians People from Gerolzhofen