Volume 16, Issue 4 (2025)
LRR 2025, 16(4): 143-176 |
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gholami S S, Roohi Barandagh K. The Efficacy of Semiotic and Interactive Model of Landowski in the Analysis of Surah Yusuf Discourses. LRR 2025; 16 (4) :143-176
URL: http://lrr.modares.ac.ir/article-14-54041-en.html
URL: http://lrr.modares.ac.ir/article-14-54041-en.html
1- Assistant Professor, Department of Theology, Faculty of Humanities, Yasouj University, Yasouj , Iran , s.gholami@yu.ac.ir
2- Associate Professor, Department of Quranic and Hadith Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran
2- Associate Professor, Department of Quranic and Hadith Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran
Abstract: (2553 Views)
Eric Landowski's semantic and interactional system is based on four patterns: "programming," "persuasion," "chance," and "adaptation." These are defined according to the principles of "regulation," "intentionality, "luck," and "sensory occurrence." Naturally, this model can be applied to epistemological and religious fields where interactive practices of subjects are adaptable. Accordingly, the diversity and differences in religious personality practices can be analyzed with this model. One of the discourses found in the Holy Quran is the dialogues and interactive practices of Prophet Yusuf (Joseph) with other figures in his narrative. This research, using a descriptive-analytical method and relying on Eric Landowski's theoretical framework, examines the dialogues and interactive practices of the story of Joseph and elucidates the relationship between this model and the characters in Surrah Yusuf. The overall findings of the research show that subjects and interactive practices can be identified in a definitional sense based on the four semantic systems, and each character in the story can be traced and adapted to one of these systems. Notably, Prophet Yusuf's (Joseph's) interactive practices are situated within the semantic system of programming, based on the type of insight and ideology regarding the origin and destiny of existence. Other characters, depending on their insights and goals, can be discussed and adapted to one or two of these semantic systems.
1. Introduction
The Holy Quran, a divine and revelatory text in Arabic, has long been the focus of linguistic and theological studies. However, the semantic and interactional systems of its verses and chapters remain a topic of intense dialogue and challenge. Eric Landowski, a post-Greimasian social semiotician, has proposed this semantic and interactional system. Influenced by the philosophy of phenomenology, especially the thsoughts of Merleau-Ponty and thinkers like Weber, Simmel, and others, Landowski introduces his interactive semantic system called "adaptation," defined by the principle of "sensory flow." By integrating this system with the existing systems of "programming" and "persuasion" and introducing the "chance" system in contrast to "programming," he enriches the classic Greimasian narrative models, which he believes only considered two systems: "programming" and "persuasion." (Babak Mo'in, 2018, No. 3, p. 298) Influenced by the phenomenology of perception, Landowski emphasizes the semantic and interactional system of "adaptation," also known as the "unity" system, highlighting lost dimensions of meaning in classic narrative systems. This linguistic perspective has attracted Quranic scholars to analyze the narrative of the chapter of Joseph, its characters, and interactive practices, re-defining various behaviors within a pre-defined semantic and interactional framework. Therefore, this research aims to linguistically analyze Surrah Yusuf and its characters and interactive practices within its verses, utilizing Landowski's semiotic semantic model.
Research Question(s)
This study aims to answer the following questions :
1. What is the relationship between characters and the interactive practices in the story of Joseph based on Landowski's linguistic communication model and semantic system?
2. How are the various characters in the Surrah Yusuf and the verses of the Quran related according to Landowski's four semantic systems?
To this end, the study first presents the problem and prior research, outlines the theoretical framework, and then analyzes the dialogues and interactive practices of Surrah Yusuf through Landowski's four semantic systems, culminating in the conclusion and references. Data collection is library-based, data referencing is documentary, and analysis employs a qualitative content analysis approach (descriptive-analytical type).
2. Literature Review
Concerning Landowski's semantic system, both domestic and international precedents are noted. Internationally, his theoretical foundations are presented in "Anonymous Emotions" (2004) and "Risky Interactions" (2005). The first work contrasts possession-based semiotics with experience-based semiotics, pursuing concepts missing in classic narrative semiotics. (Mo'in, 2018, 299) The second work introduces and explains semantic and interactional systems. Domestically, works analyzing this semantic system include those by Morteza Babak Mo'in concerning Landowski's theories and ideas, such as "Meaning as a Lived Experience" (1994) and "Lost Dimensions of Meaning in Classical Narrative Semiotics: The Semantic System of Adaptation or Dance in Interaction" (1996); a paper titled "An Analytical Approach with a Systems Perspective of Social Semiotics in Four Semantic Systems of Eric Landowski" (2015); and another paper "Efficiency of Landowski's Semantic and Interactional Systems in Analyzing Educational Discourses" (2018). These works explore his semantic systems and social models in detail and attempt to implement the adaptation system across different domains. Nonetheless, Landowski's semantic system has been overlooked by Quranic scholars and linguists under the verses and chapters of the Quran, and this study seeks to evaluate this model in the chapter of Joseph according to Landowski's four semantic systems..
3. Methodology
To achieve this goal, an attempt has been made to first refer to the theoretical framework after stating the problem and background of the research, and then, through Landowski's four semantic systems, the dialogues and interactive practices of Surah Yusuf are discussed and analyzed, and finally the results and sources are stated. The method of this research is library in data collection, documentary in data citation, and qualitative content analysis (descriptive-analytical) in analysis.
4. Results
A thorough examination of Landowski's four semantic systems—programming, adaptive, persuasive, and disjunctive—in these 84 verses indicates that each character and interactive practice can be alternately examined and adapted within these systems. Characteristics of the behavioral models presented in the story of Joseph include their overall, widespread, and universal nature, meaning these types of characters and their semiotic models can be adapted and applied across other character domains and behaviors. The characters in Surrah Yusuf, such as Prophet Yusuf (Joseph) and Ya'qub (Jacob), based on their insight and ideology concerning the origin and end of the world, conduct all interactive practices under a programming subject. In other words, Prophet Yusuf articulates everything beyond the ultimate cause of existence and acts in a coherent order with absolute security towards his goals. In contrast, other subjects in the story, like Zuleikha and the Egyptian women, in a persuasive manner, attempt to persuade others towards their goals, hoping to justify their actions and convince Joseph and the Egyptian officer. Their audacity and reckless behavior are situated in the adaptive system; these two subjects manage their affiliations by aligning provocative and threatening forces, engaging in a collective sensory perception of love for Joseph, intending to weaken and undermine opposing discourse. Prophet Yaqub (Jacob), based on his knowledge of the system of existence, conveys his discourse within a programming system and sees all occurrences and events within a divine causal framework. His patience and foresight depict everything within the divine program, thus exhibiting programming behavior. Other subjects and actors can be identified through the four semantic and interactive systems—programming, persuasive, chance, and adaptive. Brotherly interactions with Jacob and Joseph and interactions between the king and Joseph, Jacob with Joseph, and other interactions in the story of Joseph fall into this reading. The brothers exhibit adaptive interactions and persuasion with others, and Joseph's companions, with varying intensity, fall into the adaptive semantic system. An inner religious perspective on Landowski's semantic system adds an important dimension: since the creator of existence is the manager and planner of existence, creation revolves within a specific program. Therefore, all verses revealed from the creator of existence to the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) are based on programming, as the creator's aim is to cultivate humanity and the happiness of mankind by achieving divine proximity.Thus, nothing in the world comes into existence by chance; everything has a cause and purpose, as confirmed by the programming system.
1. Introduction
The Holy Quran, a divine and revelatory text in Arabic, has long been the focus of linguistic and theological studies. However, the semantic and interactional systems of its verses and chapters remain a topic of intense dialogue and challenge. Eric Landowski, a post-Greimasian social semiotician, has proposed this semantic and interactional system. Influenced by the philosophy of phenomenology, especially the thsoughts of Merleau-Ponty and thinkers like Weber, Simmel, and others, Landowski introduces his interactive semantic system called "adaptation," defined by the principle of "sensory flow." By integrating this system with the existing systems of "programming" and "persuasion" and introducing the "chance" system in contrast to "programming," he enriches the classic Greimasian narrative models, which he believes only considered two systems: "programming" and "persuasion." (Babak Mo'in, 2018, No. 3, p. 298) Influenced by the phenomenology of perception, Landowski emphasizes the semantic and interactional system of "adaptation," also known as the "unity" system, highlighting lost dimensions of meaning in classic narrative systems. This linguistic perspective has attracted Quranic scholars to analyze the narrative of the chapter of Joseph, its characters, and interactive practices, re-defining various behaviors within a pre-defined semantic and interactional framework. Therefore, this research aims to linguistically analyze Surrah Yusuf and its characters and interactive practices within its verses, utilizing Landowski's semiotic semantic model.
Research Question(s)
This study aims to answer the following questions :
1. What is the relationship between characters and the interactive practices in the story of Joseph based on Landowski's linguistic communication model and semantic system?
2. How are the various characters in the Surrah Yusuf and the verses of the Quran related according to Landowski's four semantic systems?
To this end, the study first presents the problem and prior research, outlines the theoretical framework, and then analyzes the dialogues and interactive practices of Surrah Yusuf through Landowski's four semantic systems, culminating in the conclusion and references. Data collection is library-based, data referencing is documentary, and analysis employs a qualitative content analysis approach (descriptive-analytical type).
2. Literature Review
Concerning Landowski's semantic system, both domestic and international precedents are noted. Internationally, his theoretical foundations are presented in "Anonymous Emotions" (2004) and "Risky Interactions" (2005). The first work contrasts possession-based semiotics with experience-based semiotics, pursuing concepts missing in classic narrative semiotics. (Mo'in, 2018, 299) The second work introduces and explains semantic and interactional systems. Domestically, works analyzing this semantic system include those by Morteza Babak Mo'in concerning Landowski's theories and ideas, such as "Meaning as a Lived Experience" (1994) and "Lost Dimensions of Meaning in Classical Narrative Semiotics: The Semantic System of Adaptation or Dance in Interaction" (1996); a paper titled "An Analytical Approach with a Systems Perspective of Social Semiotics in Four Semantic Systems of Eric Landowski" (2015); and another paper "Efficiency of Landowski's Semantic and Interactional Systems in Analyzing Educational Discourses" (2018). These works explore his semantic systems and social models in detail and attempt to implement the adaptation system across different domains. Nonetheless, Landowski's semantic system has been overlooked by Quranic scholars and linguists under the verses and chapters of the Quran, and this study seeks to evaluate this model in the chapter of Joseph according to Landowski's four semantic systems..
3. Methodology
To achieve this goal, an attempt has been made to first refer to the theoretical framework after stating the problem and background of the research, and then, through Landowski's four semantic systems, the dialogues and interactive practices of Surah Yusuf are discussed and analyzed, and finally the results and sources are stated. The method of this research is library in data collection, documentary in data citation, and qualitative content analysis (descriptive-analytical) in analysis.
4. Results
A thorough examination of Landowski's four semantic systems—programming, adaptive, persuasive, and disjunctive—in these 84 verses indicates that each character and interactive practice can be alternately examined and adapted within these systems. Characteristics of the behavioral models presented in the story of Joseph include their overall, widespread, and universal nature, meaning these types of characters and their semiotic models can be adapted and applied across other character domains and behaviors. The characters in Surrah Yusuf, such as Prophet Yusuf (Joseph) and Ya'qub (Jacob), based on their insight and ideology concerning the origin and end of the world, conduct all interactive practices under a programming subject. In other words, Prophet Yusuf articulates everything beyond the ultimate cause of existence and acts in a coherent order with absolute security towards his goals. In contrast, other subjects in the story, like Zuleikha and the Egyptian women, in a persuasive manner, attempt to persuade others towards their goals, hoping to justify their actions and convince Joseph and the Egyptian officer. Their audacity and reckless behavior are situated in the adaptive system; these two subjects manage their affiliations by aligning provocative and threatening forces, engaging in a collective sensory perception of love for Joseph, intending to weaken and undermine opposing discourse. Prophet Yaqub (Jacob), based on his knowledge of the system of existence, conveys his discourse within a programming system and sees all occurrences and events within a divine causal framework. His patience and foresight depict everything within the divine program, thus exhibiting programming behavior. Other subjects and actors can be identified through the four semantic and interactive systems—programming, persuasive, chance, and adaptive. Brotherly interactions with Jacob and Joseph and interactions between the king and Joseph, Jacob with Joseph, and other interactions in the story of Joseph fall into this reading. The brothers exhibit adaptive interactions and persuasion with others, and Joseph's companions, with varying intensity, fall into the adaptive semantic system. An inner religious perspective on Landowski's semantic system adds an important dimension: since the creator of existence is the manager and planner of existence, creation revolves within a specific program. Therefore, all verses revealed from the creator of existence to the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) are based on programming, as the creator's aim is to cultivate humanity and the happiness of mankind by achieving divine proximity.Thus, nothing in the world comes into existence by chance; everything has a cause and purpose, as confirmed by the programming system.
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