“This is Water”. Semiotizing the Sea

Abstract

How to describe the sea? How to tell about it? One of the most universal experiences – soaking in seawater – is also one of the most individual, whose characters are defined over time through habit, associations, readings and character evolution. Yet the need to talk about the sea, to semiotize it, is fundamental, in contexts of literature, marketing, or others. In this paper I will aim the (hopeless?) undertaking of describing, defining and classifying the sea (and beaches), reasoning about the respective roles of cognition and experience, and about the relationship between sea and musement. My conclusions will deal with the role of the sea as a challenge for the expressive power of languages.