Transposition and narrativity in the advances of current semiotics

Abstract

For a long time the concept of narrativity was at the pinnacle of the semiotic theory developed by algirdas julien greimas. However, with the incorporation of new problems and, mainly, on the assumption that narrative schematization would not be able to handle an exhaustive and more adequate description of the singularities on non-verbal signifiers sets, practices and interactions that are closer to what is experienced by people, the narrative system was gradually ceasing to be a theoretical concern for semioticians. In order to pay tribute to the Lithuanian master, this article turns to the presence of narrativity in the developments of current semiotics. Our objectives are to highlight the centrality of this concept within Greimas’ theoretical model, to examine the consequences of the passage from narrative stricto sensu to narrative lato sensu and, above all, to emphasize its theoretical reach, more than its function as a tool of analysis circumscribed to the generative path of meaning or as an emblematic concept of so-called classical semiotics. At the end, narrativity is assumed as a meta-schema, as a device for meaning transposition, which can be mobilized at different levels, depending on the theoretical or analytical perspective of the semioticist, in the various semiotic approaches that are part of Greimas’ heritage.