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La Sémantique structurale (1966) de Greimas constitue une étape cruciale dans le cheminement scientifique de l'auteur. L'ouvrage marque la transition entre une première période d'activité lexicologique et lexicographique et une seconde période d'élaboration d'une sémiotique générale. Dans son ouvrage de 1966, Greimas construit un modèle de «sémantique structurale» qui vise à décrire la structure de textes, d'après une démarche méthodologique conforme à la théorisation hjelmslévienne, et à conférer à la sémantique une place centrale à l'intérieur des sciences humaines. Une étude serrée (et «immanente») de cet ouvrage fondateur montre comment la rigueur méthodologique et le souci épistémologique dans la construction du modèle analytique doivent garantir une approche objective de la structure de textes (mythiques, littéraires et autres) comme articulant une vision du monde. Greimas' Sémantique structurale (1966) marks a crucial stage in the author's scientific career. The work forms the transition between the initial period of lexicological and lexicographical activity and the subsequent period during which the author elaborated a theory of general semiotics. In his Sémantique structurale Greimas develops a model of 'structural semantics' which aims at describing the structure of texts, in line with a methodological approach based on Hjelmslev's theorization, and which is intended to provide a central place for semantics within the human sciences. A close (and 'immanent') study of this foundational work shows how the methodological rigor and the epistemological concern underlying the construction of the analytical model have to ensure an objective approach of the structure of texts (mythical, literary, and other types of texts) as a way of articulating a world view. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article starts from a typology of sign models and sign functions in order to assess Saussure's classification of linguistics as a branch of semiology. Saussure's definition of the linguistic sign raises the issue of a possible semiotic approach of the morpheme (unit of expression and content). In Saussure, and even more so in American structural linguistics, the approach of morphology is characterized by low 'semiotic investment'; rarely, if at all, is the notion of 'linguistic sign' made operational within their conception of morphological analysis, in spite of interesting opportunities for its use. In poststructuralist work (natural morphology; linguistic functionalism), the perspectives for a semiotic approach of morphology are promising. The final part of the paper formulates some requirements for a rigid approach of the morpheme as a linguistic sign. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This article offers a critical analysis of the notions of causality and conditioning of linguistic change as these were developed in the French functionalist school, most notably by Martinet (1955), and some of his followers (Haudricourt -- Juilland 1949, Hagège -- Haudricourt 1978). In the first section, we analyse the types of causality discussed in functionalist diachronic studies. We then discuss the teleological aspect associated with functionalist causal explanations. Finally, we analyse the distinction between internal and external factors in linguistic change. These issues are inextricably intertwined in diachronic functionalism, but French functionalists adopt different stands with respect to the nature, role and function of internal and external factors, and with respect to the explanation of 'actuated' linguistic change. From our critical analysis it appears that the concept of causality has not been fully elaborated by the functionalists, and that the notions of causality and conditioning remain vague. We argue that this is due to a more basic problem at the level of the theoretical conception of language, viz. the fact that Martinet is caught between three perspectives on 'language': (1) the linguistic system as existing independently of speakers; (2) the individual speaker and the idiolect as a supposedly homogeneous object of study; (3) the socially stratified and heterogeneous speech community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses Chinese phonemics, in which the approach being adopted is an inductive one, proceeding in a constructivist way. As a starting point, the authors use the inventory of Chinese syllables in a narrow phonetic transcription. Their analysis is confined to segmental phonetics/phonology, leaving aside the possible interference between tones and phonetic variation of a syllable type. Furthermore, the distributional characteristics of these segments are listed, which enabled the authors to make their first phonemic reductions based on complementary distribution. In addition, there is an investigation of resegmentation possibilities for segments that did not have the appearance of complex phones, but were registered at first as phonetically simple segments.