In a story, an allotopy is when two basic meaning traits (semes) contradict each other; that is, when they trace two incompatible interpretations. It was conceived as being the opposite of an isotopy, which is the homogeneity resulting from repetition of the same seme.Jean-Marie Klinkenberg (1996) Précis de sémiotique générale, De Boeck, p. 118 The concept was coined in the 1970s by the Belgian semioticians known as Groupe μ.
History In the 1970, the Belgian semioticians known under the name Groupe μ, introduced the concept of Allotopy. They first discussed the concept in publications like Isotopie et allotopie,DUBOIS J.; EDELINE F.; KLINKENBERG J.-M.; MINGUET P. (1976) Isotopie et allotopie: le fonctionnement rhétorique du texte, no14, pp. 41-65 (2 p.) Isotopie, allotopie et polytopie (1976),Groupe μ (1976) Isotopie, allotopie et polytopie : le texte rhétorique, Versus, 14, 1 976 and A Rhetoric of Poetry (1977).Groupe μ (1977)
Allotopy and humor Groupe μ discussed the relation of allotopy to jokes and humor. Salvatore Attardo, despite not using the term allotopy, formulated a theory of humor based on the idea of the "incompatible interpretations", called the isotopy-disjunction model.Salvatore Attardo (2001) Humorous texts: a semantic and pragmatic analysis, sect.5.3.2, p.83Salvatore Attardo (1994) Linguistic theories of humor, chap.2 This is part of the broader idea of defining humor as based on contradiction/incongruity.
See also Allotopic syntagmThe sign in Paris semiotics, Semiotica. Volume 111, Issue 1-2, Pages 1–34, ISSN (Online) 1613-3692, ISSN (Print) 0037-1998, , //1996
Notes
References Groupe μ (1977) Rhétorique de la poésie: lecture linéaire, lecture tabulaire. Original summary in French
Further reading Klinkenberg et al. (2008) Figures de la figure: Sémiotique et rhétorique générale Serge Botet (2008) Petit traité de la métaphore: Un panorama des théories modernes de la métaphore François Rastier (1987) Sémantique interprétative, chapter VI Isotopies minimales, section 2 Isotopies génériques and section 4 Degres d'allotopie specifique Paul Delbouille, Françoise Tilkin Le lire et le délire: recueil offert à Paul Delbouille par ses collègues, pp. 223–45
External links Définition de: l'allotopie L'argumentation dans la figure (J.-M. Klinkenberg)