Algirdas Julien Greimas

Algirdas Julius Greimas (March 9, 1917 – February 27, 1992 ) was a Lithuanian linguist and semiotician who contributed to the theory of signification, and also researched Lithuanian mythology. While living in France his middle name in print was used in francophonic form Julien rather than Lithuanian Julius.

Born to Lithuanian parents in Tula, Russia, Greimas studied law at Kaunas University, and linguistics in Grenoble (1936-1939)^[1]. In 1939 he returned to Lithuania for his military service. In 1944 he returned to France, and in 1949 he received his PhD from the Sorbonne. He lectured at the universities of Ankara, Istanbul, Poitiers and Alexandria. While in Alexandria he met Roland Barthes with whom he maintained a close relation. He was a professor at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) in Paris. From 1965 on, he headed semiotic-linguistic research in Paris, laying the foundations for the Paris School of Semiotics.

Greimas later began researching and reconstructing Lithuanian mythology basing his work on the methods of Georges Dumézil, Claude Lévi-Strauss and Marcel Detienne. His results were published as Of Gods and Men (1979) and In Search of National Memory (1990). He died in 1992 in Paris

Greimas is at the origin of the semiotic square and the actantial narrative schema.

Selected bibliography

• GREIMAS, A. J., On Meaning, trans. Frank Collins and Paul Perron, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1987 [1970].
• GREIMAS, A. J., Maupassant: The Semiotics of Text, trans. Paul Perron, Amsterdam and Philadelphia: J. Benjamins, 1988 [1976].
• GREIMAS, A. J., The Social Sciences. A Semiotic View, trans. Frank Collins and Paul Perron, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1989 [1976].
• GREIMAS, A. J. and J. COURTÉS, Semiotics and Language: An Analytical Dictionary, Bloomington : Indiana University Press, 1982 [1979].
• GREIMAS, A. J., Of Gods and Men: Studies in Lithuanian Mythology, trans. Milda Newman, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1992 [1985].
• GREIMAS, A. J., Structural Semantics: An Attempt at a Method, trans. Daniele McDowell, Ronald Schleifer and Alan Velie, Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 1983 [1966].
• GREIMAS, A. J. and J. FONTANILLE, The Semiotics of Passions. From States of Affairs to States of Feelings, trans. Paul Perron and Frank Collins, Minneapolis : University of Minnesota Press, 1993.

References

1. ^ Chapman, Siobhan; Christopher Routledge (2005-07-31). Key thinkers in linguistics and the philosophy of language. Oxford University Press US. ISBN 0195187687, 9780195187687. 

Jūrate Baranova, et al., ed (2001). "Chapter xvii Algirdas j. Greimas in Lithuania and in the World by Žilvinas Beliauskas". Lithuanian philosophy: persons and ideas Lithuanian philosophical studies, ii. Cultural heritage and contemporary change series IVa, Eastern and Central Europe, volume 17. The Council For Research In Values And Philosophy. ISBN 1-56518-137-9. http://www.crvp.org/book/Series04/IVA-17/chapter_xvii.htm. Retrieved 2007-09-07. 

Further read

• www.signosemio.com - Signo - Greimas's biography and Greimas's semiotics theories (in English and in French)
• Tomas F., Broden (July 1998). "The Evolution Of French Linguistics After The War: A. J. Greimas's Conversion To 'Saussurism". Texto !. http://www.revue-texto.net/Inedits/Broden_Evolution.html. Retrieved 2008-05-19. 

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