Comparative research enriches semiotics and deepens its exchanges with other sciences. The work can also highlight inductive methods and socio-historically specific forms and practices, thereby ...helping to develop a general semiotics and a semiotics of cultures. This article compares the morphology by Vladimir Propp that inspired the Greimassian narrative schema to a small sample of narrative forms, then to Aristotle's Poetics and to a model of Hollywood films. Certain motifs and subgenres represent elementary schemas with two or three actants and functions that rely on role reversal and emotions. A half dozen subgenres can be differentiated by the different affects that they aim to elicit. Greek tragedy is to evoke intense emotional states, and reveals a close interdependence between characteristics of the hero, modulations of the critical action, and the emotive effect produced. In the films, the variation of the affective intensity constitutes a key element of the narrative rhythm, and two main sequences supply opposing and complementary axiologies. A conclusion suggests the value of bringing together the semiotics of the passions, recent research on the history of the emotions, and comparative studies of how different cultures express feelings.
Este estudo de caso em história das ciências da linguagem insere-se na perspectiva metodológica da história intelectual, na qual analisamos o impacto internacional de A. J. Greimas (1917-1992) e de ...sua obra, por meio do estudo das práticas de comunicação, de deslocamento e de tradução. As missões científicas realizadas fora da França, o número e a origem dos estudantes estrangeiros matriculados no seu seminário, em Paris, bem como a cronologia e a geografia linguística das traduções de sua obra ajudam a traçar, avaliar e explicar a difusão e o desenvolvimento mundial das suas ideias. Seu projeto inspirou apropriações distintas e, às vezes, estruturas institucionais em vários contextos culturais e linguísticos, incluindo contextos românicos, anglo-americanos, germânicos, eslavos, lituanos e do leste asiático. A conclusão deste ensaio avalia a importância do contato pessoal, do contexto sócio-histórico e do status sociolinguístico e didático do francês para a recepção mundial de Greimas. Ademais, este trabalho é baseado em trabalhos científicos publicados, documentos de arquivo, entrevistas e comunicações pessoais com tradutores e editores, com Greimas e seus colaboradores e com especialistas das diferentes culturas estudadas.
Summary
The initiatives to publish an English translation of the influential
Sémantique structurale
(1966) by
linguist and semiotician A. J. Greimas (1917–1992) provide an instructive case study for ...the reception of a work in new contexts. The
efforts underscore the importance of (dis)connections between cultures’ intellectual traditions and trends, putting in play the relations
between continental and American linguistic structuralism, generative semantics, cognitive linguistics, and “French” (post)structuralism
throughout the human sciences. The projects also point up the significance of timing and of standards for translation quality – and the
possibilities for controversy. In addition to published research, this study draws from archival documents and personal communications with
Greimas, his translators and editors, and other principals involved.
Cet essai adopte la perspective centrée sur les voyages, les échanges et la traduction pour étudier l‘impact international de l’œuvre d’Algirdas Julien Greimas. L’étude s’attache à mettre en évidence ...les facteurs clés qui ont affecté la diffusion des idées du linguiste et sémioticien à l’étranger. La plupart des recherches sur ses méthodes se concentrent à juste titre sur la France, où il a enseigné et développé son groupe de recherche, et sur les publications en français, langue initiale et la plus utilisée pour les travaux dans ce domaine. En revanche cette étude explore plutôt la propagation de ses innovations dans d‘autres pays et langues. Des éléments d‘histoire socioculturelle, de relations internationales et d‘histoire intellectuelle esquissent le contexte dans lequel son projet s‘est élaboré et s‘est étendu à différents pays. Les relations entre la France et les autres pays pointent trois grandes catégories dans la réception que connaît le projet greimassien, pour chacune desquelles cette étude se concentre sur deux régions prises comme exemples. L‘article examine d‘abord les cultures qui manifestent les affinités les plus étroites avec la France à savoir celles romanes, en étudiant de plus près l’Italie et l‘Amérique latine. La deuxième catégorie comprend des pays qui jouissent de convergences moindres mais toujours appréciables avec la société française. Il s’agit des zones de langues germaniques, pour lesquelles l‘Amérique anglophone et les pays de langue allemande nous serviront d’exemples. Le dernier panneau du triptyque explore des pays qui entretiennent des relations plus lointaines avec la France, notamment durant la carrière de Greimas, en se focalisant sur la Russie-l’URSS et la Chine. La conclusion tente d’évaluer à quel point des facteurs tels que les structures institutionnelles et les contacts personnels, l‘histoire et le contexte socioculturels et le statut pédagogique et sociolinguistique du français exercent effectivement un impact sur son accueil à l‘étranger. L’analyse de la réception mondiale de l’œuvre de Greimas permet de découvrir les facteurs qui conditionnent la propagation de la sémiotique dans le monde entier.
This interview is the result of a research with twelve “disciples” of Greimas about the possible “black boxes” in his semiotics and seeks to answer the following questions: Did “the black boxes” ...exist? If they did, what were they? What do Greimas followers have to say? Initiated in 2014, the research project ““Black boxes” and the importance of French semiotics in the analysis of verbal, non-verbal and syncretic discourse lasted seven years and approached the survey through readings of articles and books, the contributions of semioticians such as José Luiz Fiorin, Luís Hébert, Silvio de Santana Jr, Nícia Ribas D'Ávila, Ignácio de Assis Silva, Edward Lopes, Arnaldo Cortina, Edna Fernandes, Ronald Schleifer and Louis Hébert, among others, with interviews regarding the development of Greimas' semiotic theory. Here we interview one of those responsibles for spreading Greimas' semiotics in the United States, the semiotician Thomas F. Broden.
Pensando a biografia intelectual, como gênero, a partir das noções de diacronia e regimes discursivos, o artigo apresenta dois modelos diacrônicos clássicos para dar conta de uma transformação ...científica capital da trajetória de Greimas. Três categorias de enunciados que devem, pois, ser consultados e expostos são, então, identificadas – as pesquisas do cientista, os documentos de caráter arquivista e os testemunhos pessoais de natureza (auto)biográfica – para mostrar que cada uma delas, ao implementar uma prática enunciativa distinta que constrói suas próprias unidades e realiza um tipo discursivo diferente, permite obter, através do cruzamento dos resultados obtidos, novos fatos diacrônicos. A título de exemplos, esboça-se no texto a gênese do Dicionário de Semiótica (Greimas; Courtés, 1979) e indicação de como certas mudanças em Greimas reúnem fatores de ordem científica e biográfica.
In his first research project, Greimas developed and applied new methods in the historical lexicology of modern French. His theoretical articles formulate a sociological approach that analyses ...vocabulary as a history of culture, illustrated in his two dissertations on fashion in 1830. In the 1980s, from the perspective of his semiotics, Greimas dismissed his early scholarship as failed experiments that taught him what not to do. In the changed epistemological context of the 21st century, the work appears as pioneering research in cultural studies which possesses clear scholarly value. Greimas’ philological and lexicological training bore fruit directly and indirectly throughout his career. Two decades before he launched his semiotics, his project for lexicology proposes a semantic methodology, envisions the construction of an organon for the human sciences, and explicitly calls for a multi-generational collaborative enterprise. Like his structural semantics and semiotics, this lexicology entails three inseparable components: epistemological foundations, concrete methodologies, and robust applications. Moreover, a focus on the lexeme characterizes Greimas’ structural semantics and persists in his semiotics.
This essay adopts a semiotic perspective focused on practices of communication, movement, and translation to examine the global impact of A. J. Greimas (1917–1992) and his oeuvre. The linguist and ...semiotician’s lecture trips abroad, the number and provenance of international students in his Paris seminar, and the chronology and linguistic geography of translations of his work help describe, gauge, and explain the dissemination and development of his ideas throughout the world. His project has engendered distinctive appropriations and at times productive institutional structures in a number of cultural and linguistic contexts, notably Romance, Anglo-American, Germanic, Russian, Lithuanian, and Chinese. The broader historical relations between France and other lands, and the extent of each society’s use of the French language have conditioned, fostered, or impeded responses to his proposals. The conclusion’s discussion of the relative importance of personal contacts, socio-historical context, and the sociolinguistic and pedagogical status of French for his international reception aims to contribute to general methodological debates in the history of science and ideas and in transnational history.
Cette étude adopte une perspective sémiotique centrée sur des pratiques de communication, de déplacement et de traduction pour examiner l’impact international d’A. J. Greimas (1917–1992) et de son œuvre. Les missions scientifiques menées par le linguiste et sémioticien à l’étranger, le nombre et la provenance des étudiants étrangers inscrits dans son séminaire à Paris et la chronologie et la géographie linguistique des traductions de ses travaux aident à tracer, à évaluer et à expliquer la dissémination et le développement mondial de ses idées. Son projet a inspiré des appropriations distinctives et parfois des structures institutionnelles dans nombre de contextes culturels et linguistiques, notamment roman, anglo-américain, germanique, russe, lituanien et chinois. L’histoire des relations entre la France et d’autres états de même que le statut de la langue française dans chaque société influencent, favorisent ou empêchent les réponses à ses propositions. Dans la conclusion, la discussion de l’importance relative jouée par le contact personnel, le contexte sociohistorique et le statut sociolinguistique et didactique du français pour sa réception internationale vise à contribuer aux débats méthodologiques dans le domaine de l’histoire de la science et des idées et de l’histoire transnationale.
Este estudio de caso, situado en la historia de las ciencias del lenguaje, adopta la perspectiva de la historia intelectual centrada en las modalidades de diseminación de las ideas. El artículo ...analiza la trascendencia internacional de A. J. Greimas (1917-1992) y de su obra; para ello toma en cuenta las relaciones internacionales y el estatus de la lengua francesa, apoyándose en la cantidad y procedencia de los estudiantes extranjeros que el investigador acogió, en las misiones científicas que efectuó en el extranjero, y en la cronología y geografía lingüística de las traducciones de sus textos. Su proyecto ha tenido una importante acogida en las culturas en lengua románica, germánica, eslava, lituana, y del Asia del Este. Este trabajo se basa en documentos archivísticos, así como en comunicaciones personales que su autor tuvo con Greimas, sus traductores, sus editores y colaboradores, y con especialistas de las distintas culturas estudiadas.
Este artigo descreve a formação do semioticista A. J. Greimas (1917-1992) e explora como ela contribuiu para moldar as ideias subsequentes de sua vida. Uma narrativa inicial caracteriza o contexto ...linguístico e cultural em que ele cresceu, relata sua escolaridade na Lituânia e detalha seus estudos universitários na França dos anos 1930. Este relato destaca os indivíduos, os métodos, os autores e os livros de sua juventude que se mostraram particularmente significativos para ele. Uma segunda seção, mais longa, sintetiza então as experiências relatadas. Quatro tradições culturais e intelectuais desempenharam um papel importante no desenvolvimento de Greimas: lituânia, eslava, germânica e francesa. Ele teve um interesse particular em poesia, na Idade Média, na filosofia, na história, no modernismo e na filologia. O artigo indaga sobre a maneira como essas heranças, artes e temas formaram a visão que se seguiu de suas ideias e de sua carreira.