Semiotic square

The Semiotic square - also known as Greimas' rectangle or semantic rectangle - is a way of classifying concepts which are relevant to a given opposition of concepts, such as feminine-masculine, beautiful-ugly, etc. and of extending the relevant ontology. It has been put forth by Lithuanian linguist and semiotician Algirdas Julien Greimas, and was derived from Aristotle's logical square or square of opposition.

Starting from a given opposition of concepts S1 and S2, the semiotic square entails first the existence of two other concepts, namely ~S1 and ~S2, which are in the following relationships:

• S1 and S2: opposition
• S1 and ~S1, S2 and ~S2: contradiction
• S1 and ~S2, S2 and ~S1: complementarity

The semiotic square also produces, second, so-called meta-concepts, which are compound ones, the most important of which are:

• S1 and S2
• neither S1 nor S2

For example, from the pair of opposite concepts masculine-feminine, we get:

• S1: masculine
• S2: feminine
• ~S1: not-masculine
• ~S2: not-feminine
• S1 and S2: masculine and feminine, i.e. hermaphrodite, bi-sexual
• neither S1 nor S2: neither masculine nor feminine, asexual

Some alternative frameworks to the semiotic square have been proposed in the literature, such as conceptual graphs or matrices of concepts.

See also

• Algirdas Julien Greimas
• Paradigmatic Analysis

References

• Louis Hébert (2006), “ The Semiotic Square ”, in Louis Hébert (dir.), Signo on-line, Rimouski (Quebec)
• Algirdas Julien Greimas (1966). Sémantique structurale. Paris: Larousse
• Paradigmatic Analysis, in Semiotics for Beginners, by Daniel Chandler
• Robinson, Kim Stanley. Red Mars. New York: Bantam Books, 1993.

External links

• Modules on Greimas: On the semiotic square
• Timothy Lenoir, Was That Last Turn A Right Turn? The Semiotic Turn and A.J. Greimas, Configurations, Vol.2 (1994): 119-136