Actantial model

In structural semantics, the actantial model, also called the actantial narrative schema, is a tool used to analyze the action that takes place in a story, whether real or fictional.^[1]^[2] It was developed in 1966 by semiotician Algirdas Julien Greimas.^[3]^[4]

The model considers an action as divided into six facets, called actants.^[1]

Greimas took the term actant from linguist Lucien Tesnière, which coined in his discussion of the grammar of noun phrases.^[5]

Notes

^ ^a ^b Herbert 2006 Tools, Ch.5, Origins and function
^ Herbert 2006 Actantial
^ Greimas, Algirdas Julien [1966] Structural Semantics: An Attempt at a Method
^ Greimas (1973).
^ David Herman, Manfred Jahn, Marie-Laure Ryan (2005) Routledge encyclopedia of narrative theory, p.574

Greimas, Algirdas Julien. 1973. "Actants, Actors, and Figures." On Meaning: Selected Writings in Semiotic Theory. Trans. Paul J. Perron and Frank H, Collins. Theory and History of Literature, 38. Minneapolis: U of Minnesota P, 1987. 106-120.
Herbert, Louis (2006) Tools for Text and Image Analysis: An Introduction to Applied Semiotics, online eboook, published by Texto !
Herbert, Louis (2006) The Actantial Model, in Louis Hébert (dir.), Signo [online], Rimouski (Quebec), http://www.signosemio.com