The semiotic square, 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 logical square of opposition, was developed by Algirdas J. Greimas, a Lithuanian-French linguist and semiotician, who considered the semiotic square to be the elementary structure of meaning. Greimas first presented the square in Semantique Structurale (1966), a book which was later published as Structural Semantics: An Attempt at a Method (1983). He further developed the semiotic square with Francois Rastier in "The Interaction of Semiotic Constraints" (1968).

Basic structure

The Greimas square is a model based on relationships:

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: The semiotic square also produces, second, so-called meta-concepts, which are compound ones, the most important of which are: For example, from the pair of opposite concepts masculine-feminine, we get:

Styles of interpretation

The Greimas square is a tool used within the system of semiotics.

Examples of interpretation

The semiotic square has been used to analyze and interpret a variety of topics, including corporate language, the discourse of science studies as cultural studies, the fable of Little Red Riding Hood, narration, and print advertising.