Structuralism part 1

Presented by:

Myra Sarmiento-Candol

English 303Literary CristicsmStructuralism

Objectives:Define StructuralismKnow the Founding Fathers of

StructuralismOverview SemioticsDiscussed Signs, Syntagms and

Associative

What is Structuralism Structuralism is a 20th Century intellectual

movement and approach to the human sciences (it has had a profound effect on linguistics, sociology, anthropology and other fields in addition to philosophy) that attempts to analyze a specific field as a complex system of interrelated parts.

A system in which each element in a group can only be understood by its relation to other elements as part of a larger structure.

Sigmund Freud Freud’s passion for

psychology and for giving an explanation to everything made him one of the founding fathers of psychology as a science. He strove to find new ways that seemed to explain and defies things that had never before been questioned so deeply. This is why Structuralism finds many roots in psychology.

Claude Levi-StraussIt was during Levi-

Strauss’s period in the US that “structural anthropology” became constructed. This led to what has come to known as “structuralism”

Wilhelm Wundt 1832-1920 Established first

Psychology Lab in Germany

Defined psychology as the science of human mind and consciousness

Used the method of objective introspection to identify the basic mental elements

Edward TitchenerTransferred Wundt’s

ideas to America

How does this make you feel?

Ferdinand de Saussure

Swiss Linguist 1857-1913

Father of StructuralismCredited for founding Semiotics (he called it Semiology)

Semiologyis the study of meaning-making, the study of sign processes and meaningful

communication

 three branchesSemantics: relation between signs and the

things to which they refer; their signified denotata, or meaning

Syntactics: relations among or between signs in formal structures

Pragmatics: relation between signs and sign-using agents or interpreters

For SaussureLanguage was generally seen as a way to name things

Rocks

Cat Tree

The way these words ‘fit’ in the context of each language as a whole helps to define what we think of when we see this picture

In English, a dog In Spanish, un

perro In German, ein

Hund In French, le chien

Saussure’s Definition of Language

All language is made of signsBy putting together signs it is

possible to create complex messagesEach sign has two parts: signifier

and signified

Sign Part 1: Signifier“ The psychological imprint of the

sound, the impression it makes on our senses”

(how we think of something in our head)

“sound-image”

Sign part 2: SignifiedThe concept or essence of something

What the signifier is referring to (the sound “dog” refers to the concept of a dog)

Once together, never apart

A SignSignifier/Sound-image

Signified/Concept

Once together, never apart

A Sign

“Apple”

Once together, never apart

A Sign

“horse”

The nature of signsArbitrary- meaning there is no natural connection between signifier and signified

But what about….Onomatopoeia and Interjections

Still arbitrary, since each language has a slightly different version of them

String signs together to create more complex meaningEx. The bird barks the dog atBecomes: the dog barks at the birdBut not; barks the bird at the dog, bird dog

barks at the the, dog at bird the barks the

SyntagmAn ordered series of signs that make sense.

The signs make sense because of their relation to other signs

AssociationsWords related to a word (through meaning, letter, composition, sound, etc)

Unlike in syntagms, order does not matter

ASSOCIATIVE Signs are stored in your memory, for example, not in syntagmatic

links or sentences, but in ASSOCIATIVE groups. "Education" "-tion":education, relation, association Similar associations: education, teacher, textbook, college,

expensive. Random set of linkages: education, baseball, computer games,

psychoanalysis ASSOCIATIVE relations are only in your head, not in the  structure of language itself, whereas SYNTAGMATIC relations are a product of linguistic structure.

LINGUISTIC VALUE Thought is a shapeless mass, which is only ordered by

language. One of the questions philosophers have puzzled over for centuries is whether ideas can exist at all without language. No ideas preexist language; language itself gives shape to ideas and makes them expressible.

The VALUE of a sign is determined, however, not by what signifiers get linked to what particular signified, but rather by the whole system of signs used within a community. VALUE is the product of a system or structure (LANGUE), not the result of individual relations (PAROLE).

Langue: The structure of the language that is mastered and shared by its speakers. It refers about all the rules of the language (grammar, syntax…)

Parole: It is the individual’s actual speech utterances and writing. It refers about colloquial (popular) language.

Structuralism as a philosophical stanceStructuralists are interested in the interrelationship between

UNITS ( also called "surface phenomena," ) and RULES (the ways that units can be put together. )

In language: units are words and the rules are the forms of grammar which order words. In different languages, the grammar rules are different, as are the words, but the structure is still the same in all languages: words are put together within a grammatical system to make meaning.

an example of this using literature

Three characters: princess, stepmother, and prince a princess is persecuted by a stepmother

and rescued (and married) by a prince Cinderella“units” are: princess, stepmother, and

prince "rules" are: stepmothers are evil,

princesses are victims, and princes and princesses have to marry.

A more formal definition: a structure is any conceptual system that has the following three properties: Wholeness. This means that the system functions as a whole, not just as a

collection of independent parts. Transformation. This means that the system is not static, but capable of

change. New units can enter the system, but when they do they're governed by the rules of the system.

Self-Regulation. This is related to the idea of transformation. You can add elements to the system, but you can't change the basic structure of the system no matter what you add to it. The transformations of a system never lead to anything outside the system.

Conclusion: Saussure's structuralism is based upon three assumptions

the systematic nature of language, where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts

the relational conception of the elements of language, where linguistic "entities" are defined in relationships of combination and contrast to one another

the arbitrary nature of linguistic elements, where they are defined in terms of the function and purpose they serve rather than in terms of their inherent qualities

Thank you! References: www. slideshare.net yalepress.yale.edu Google.com.ph