Marcel Danesi

Marcel Danesi (born 1946) is a professor of Semiotics and Linguistic Anthropology at the University of Toronto. He is known for his work in language, communications, and semiotics; being Director of the Program in semiotics and communication theory. He has also held positions at Rutgers University (1972), University of Rome "La Sapienza" (1988), the Catholic University of Milan (1990), and the University of Lugano.

He is the editor-in-chief of Semiotica, the official journal of the International Association for Semiotic Studies, and is a past-president of the Semiotic Society of America.

Danesi is the author of multiple books. His published work considers the semiotic and anthropological aspects of emoji, popular culture, puzzles, crime, youth, and a range of other topics.

His 2016 book The Semiotics of Emoji traces the use of emoji back to its anthropological and sociological roots. Reviewing the book in the journal Semiotica (of which Danesi himself has been editor-in-chief since 2004), Omonpee W. Petcoff wrote: "The author purposefully and masterfully presents semiotics principles and pedagogy in non-technical terms. The outcome is a text that, while rich in semiotics fundamentals and terminology, is also inviting, engaging, and, accordingly, accessible to diverse readers." Internet linguist Gretchen McCulloch's analysis of the book in her review in the Canadian Journal of Linguistics, however, found it was "riddled with elementary errors" and "shoddy citation practices." The details of her analysis are publicly available in the Twitter thread review she posted on her account in August 2018, on which the journal review was based. In 2017, The Semiotics of Emoji was one of four books shortlisted for the BAAL Book Prize, awarded annually by the British Association for Applied Linguistics.

Danesi's work has been featured in a range of mainstream publications such as The New York Times, The Guardian and The Globe and Mail.