The semioticsquare, also known as the Greimas square, is a tool used in structural analysis of the relationships between semiotic signs through the opposition of concepts, such as feminine-masculine or beautiful-ugly, and of extending the relevant ontology. The semiotic square, derived from Aristotle's logicalsquare of opposition, was developed by Algirdas J. Greimas, a French-Lithuanian linguist and semiotician, who considered the semiotic square to be the elementary structure of meaning. Greimas first presented the square in Semantique Structurale, a book which was later published as Structural Semantics: An Attempt at a Method. He further developed the semiotic square with Francois Rastier in "The Interaction of Semiotic Constraints".
Basic structure
The Greimas square is a model based on relationships:
The semiotic square is formed by an initial binary relationship between two contrary signs. S1 is considered to be the assertion/positive element and S2 is the negation/negative element in the binary pair:
The second binary relationship is now created on the ~S axis. ~S1 is considered to be the complex term, and ~S2 is the neutral term. This is where the principle of difference is brought into play: every element in a system is defined by its differences from the other elements.
In most modes of interpretation, the S-axis is a hyponym of the ~S-axis. The ~S1 element combines aspects of S1 and S2 and is also contradictory to S1. The ~S2 element contains aspects of neither S1 nor S2.
Finally, the ~S2 element can be identified. Considered to be "always the most critical position and the one that remains open or empty the longest time, for its identification completes the process and in that sense constitutes the most creative act of the construction.".
Example
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, gender-fluid
neither S1 nor S2: neither masculine nor feminine, agender
Styles of interpretation
The Greimas square is a tool used within the system of semiotics.
In the Peircean system of semiotics, the interpretant becomes the representamen for another, interrelated sign. In this same way, each of the elements of the semiotic square can become an element in a new, interrelated square.
Finally, Greimas suggests placing semiotic squares of associated meaning on top of one another to create a layered effect and another form of analysis and interpretation.
