Structuralism* Structuralism is an intellectual movement which began in France in the 1950s and is first seen in the work of the anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss and the literary critic Roland Barthes. * It is difficult to boil structuralism down to a single ‘bottom-line’ proposition, but if forced to do so it would be that its essence is the belief that things cannot be understood in isolation - they have to be seen in the context of the larger structures they are part of (hence the term 'structuralism').* Structuralism was imported into Britain mainly in the 1970s and attained widespread influence, and even notoriety, throughout the 1980s. * In sociology, anthropology, archaeology, history, philosophy, and linguistics, structuralism is a general theory of culture and methodology that implies that elements of human culture must be understood by way of their relationship to a broader system. * It works to uncover the structures that underlie all the things that humans do, think, perceive, and feel. * As an intellectual movement, structuralism also became the heir to existentialism.* Emile Durkheim based his sociological concept on ‘structure’ and ‘function’, and from his work emerged the sociological approach of structural functionalism. * Apart from Durkheim's use of the term structure, the semiological concept of Ferdinand de Saussure became fundamental for structuralism. * Saussure conceived language and society as a system of relations. His linguistic approach was also a refutation of evolutionary linguistics.* Russian functional linguist Roman Jakobson was a pivotal figure in the adaptation of structural analysis to disciplines beyond linguistics, including philosophy, anthropology, and literary theory. Jakobson was a decisive influence on anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss, by whose work the term structuralism first appeared in reference to social sciences. * By the late 1960s, many of structuralism's basic tenets came under attack from a new wave of predominantly French intellectuals/ philosophers such as historian Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida, Marxist philosopher Louis Althusser, and literary critic Roland Barthes.What they do? * They analyse (mainly) prose narratives, relating the text to some larger containing * structure, such as: * (a) the conventions of a particular literary genre, or * (b) a network of intertextual connections, or * (c) a projected model of an underlying universal narrative structure, or * (d) a notion of narrative as a complex of recurrent patterns or motifs.* Which of these statements describe correctly the basic assumption of Structuralism? * A. Structuralism is concerned with signs and signification. * B. Astructuralist theory considers only verbal conventions and codes. * C. Structuralism began in the works of Jacques Derrida that inuenced the 20th century literary criticism. * D. Structuralism challenges the long-standing belief that literature re ects a given reality. * E.All signs are arbitrary but without them we cannot comprehend reality. + 1.A,CandE only * 2.A,DandE only + 3.A,BandConly * 4. A, BandE only* Major Writers: * @ Ferdinand de Saussure * @ Roland Barthes * @ Louis Althusser (covered in Marxism) * Jacques Lacan (covered in Psychoanalytic theory) * @ Claude Levi Strauss * @ Charles Sanders Peirce * @ Roman Jakobson (covered in Russian Formalism) *@ Wilhelm WundtFerdinand de Saussure * Ferdinand de Saussure (1857 —1913) was a Swiss linguist, semiotician and philosopher. * His ideas laid a foundation for many significant developments in both linguistics and semiotics in the 20th century. * He is widely considered one of the founders of 20th-century linguistics and one of two major founders (together with Charles Sanders Peirce) of semiotics, or semiology, as Saussure called it. * Ferdinand de Saussure is one of the world’s most quoted linguists, which is remarkable as he himself hardly published anything during his lifetime.* Major Works: * BA Course in General Linguistics (1916): This book consists of his lectures about * important principles of language description in Geneva between 1907 and 1911 * which were collected and published by his pupils (Charles Bally & Albert Sechehaye) posthumously. * & Works published in his lifetime includes two monographs and a few dozen of papers * and notes, all of them collected in a volume of some 600 pages published in 1922.* Major Works: * BA Course in General Linguistics (1916): This book consists of his lectures aboot * important principles of language description in Geneva between 1907 and 1911 * which were collected and published by his pupils (Charles Bally & Albert Sechehaye) posthumously. —_—— —_—— * i Works published in his lifetime includes two monographs and a few dozen of papers * and notes, all of them collected in a volume of some 600 pages published in 1922.* Major Terms: * (4 Structural Linguistics * i Semiology * @ Langue and Parole * A Signifier and Signified * @] Synchrony and Diachrony * (a Syntagmatic and Paradigmatic * @ Linguistic Sign * (J Semiotic Arbitrariness * @ Laryngeal TheoryStructural linguistics: * Structural linguistics or structuralism, in linguistics, denotes schools or theories in which language is conceived as a self-contained, self- regulating semiotic system whose elements are defined by their relationship to other elements within the system. * It is derived from the work of Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure and is part of the overall approach of structuralism.Semiotics * Semiotics (also called semiotic studies) is the systematic study of sign processes (semiosis) and meaning making. Semiosis is any activity, conduct, or process that involves signs, where a sign is defined as anything that communicates something, usually called a meaning, to the sign's interpreter.Sign, Signifier, Signified Saussure Sign The object / thing Signifier Signified The physical existence The mental concept (sound, word, image) Frut/ Apple / Freshness / Healthy Fed / Leal / 7 / Temotaton / Teacters pet /Signifier & Signified: Examples * Signifier: Red rose with agreen stem * Signifies: a symbol of passion and love - this is what the rose represents * Signifier: Brown cross * Signifies: a symbol of religion, or to be more specific this is a symbol of Christianity * Signifier: Heart yy * Signifies: a symbol of love and affectionAgeneric diagram from de Saussure's Course in General Linguistics illustrating the relationship between signified (French: signifié) and signifier (signifiant) a Saussure, in his 1916 Course in General Linguistics, divides the sign into two distinct components: the signifier (‘sound-image’) and the signified (‘concept’).'? For Saussure, the signified and signifier are purely psychological: they are form rather than substance.+ Today, the signifier is often interpreted as the conceptual material form, i.e. something which can be seen, heard, touched, smelled or tasted; * and the signified as the conceptual ideal form. + The relationship between the signifier and signified is an arbitrary relationship: "there is no logical connection" between them. This differs from a symbol, which is "never wholly arbitrary."219 + The idea that both the signifier and the signified are inseparable is explained by Saussure's diagram, which shows how both components coincide to create the sign.Ageneric diagram from de Saussure’s Course in General Linguistics illustrating the relationship between signified (French: signifié) and signifier (signifiant) Saussure, in his 1916 Course in General Li s, divides the sign into two distinct components: the signifier (sound-image’) and the signified (‘concept’)? For Saussure, the signified and signifier are purely psychological: they are form rather than substanceLangue and Parole: * It is a theoretical linguistic dichotomy distinguished by Ferdinand de Saussure in his Course in General Linguistics. * The French term langue (‘language’) encompasses the abstract, systematic rules and conventions of a signifying system; it is independent of, and pre-exists, the individual user. + It involves the principles/system of language, without which no meaningful utterance, or parole, would be possible. * In contrast, parole (‘speech’) refers to the concrete instances of the use of langue, including texts which provide the ordinary research material for linguistics.Langue vs. Parole Langue is Abstract Parole is Concrete *These conventions exist in the * [tis physical, makes use of minds of the speakers the physiological mechanism: — Who belong to that — Speech organs society — In uttering words and — That has created the sentences language* Langue (language) is the language system shared by a speech community and according to Saussure the genuine topic of linguistics, whereas parole (speech) signifies the act of speaking in actual situations by an individual. * Example: Suppose someone listens to a word in Hindi. That someone does not know Hindi. * Hindi as a Langue (the grand structure) remains intact someone knows it or not. However, someone from our example will have to depend on Hindi as a Langue to be able to use it (Parole). + Competency/ performance- Noam Chomsky+ Langue (langpiage) is the language systerg shared by a speech community and according to Saussure the genuine topic of linguistics, whereas parole (speech) signifies the act of speaking in actual situations by an individual. * Example: Suppose someone listens to a word in Hindi. That someone does not know Hindi. * Hindi as a Langue (the grand structure) remains intact someone knows it or not. However, someone from our example will have to depend on Hindi as a Langue to be able to use it (Parole). * Competency/ performaance- Noam Chomsky* What term used by Ferdinand de Saussure corresponds to Noam Chomsky’s term ‘performance’? * 1. Difference 2. Parole 3. Paradigm 4. Langue* From among the following, identify the incorrect observation regarding Ferdinand de Saussure’s seminal distinction between language and parole. * 1. Parole is the particular language system,the elements, the elements of which we learn as children, and which is codi ed in our grammars and dictionaries, whereas langue is the language-occasion (what A says to B). * 2. Alanguage consists in the interrelationship between Langue and Parole. * 3. Saussure made this crucial distinction in a study called A Course in General Linguistics (1916). * 4. Langue is the particular language-system, the elements of which we learn as children, and which is codi ed in our grammars and dictionaries, whereas Parole is the language-occasion (what A says to B).pyq +. Identify the correct statements on Langue and Parole below: * 1. Langue is the abstract language system, the grammar of a language. * 2. Parole is the language actually produced by its user following langue. * 3. Langue is the language actually produced by its users following parole. * 4. Parole is the abstract language system, the grammar of a system (A) 1 and 3 are correct. (B) 1 and 2 are correct. (C) 2 and 3 are correct. (D) 2 and 4 are correct.* Which of the following statements is correct? * 1, Langue is the language system, and Parole, the individual usage. * 2. Langue is the language usage, and Parole, the individual system. + 3, Langue is the language in abeyance, and Parole, the individual application. * 4. Langue is the language collective, and Parole, the individual deviation.3 Synchronic vs. diachronic Synchronic (linguistics)--languages are studied at a theoretic point in time: one describes a ‘state’ of language, disregarding whatever changes might be taking place. Diachronic----languages are studied from point of view of their historical development — for example, the changes which have taken place between Old and Modern English could be described in phonological, grammatical and semantic terms.3 Synchronic vs. diachronic Synchronic (linguistics)---languages are studied at a. theoretic point in ti one describes a ‘state’ of language, disregarding whatever changes might be takinj place. Diachronic----languages are studied from point of view of their historical development — for example, the changes which have taken place between Old and Modern English could be described in phonological, grammatical and semantic terms.Syntagmatic relation and paradigmatic relation * Syntagmatic relation and paradigmatic relation are introduced by Saussure (1974) to distinguish two kinds of signifiers: * one concerns positioning (syntagmatic) and * the other concerns substitution (paradigmatic). * Paradigmatic relations are widely used in thesaurus and other knowledge organization systems, while syntagmatic relations are generally related to cooccurrences in some contexts.Collie} paradigmaticRoland Barthes * Roland Gérard Barthes (1915 —1980) was a French literary theorist, essayist, * philosopher, critic, and semiotician. His work engaged in the analysis of a variety of sign systems, mainly derived from Western popular culture. His ideas explored a diverse range of * fields and influenced the development of many schools of theory, including structuralism, * anthropology, literary theory, and post-structuralism.* Major Works: * @ Writing Degree Zero (1953) + H Mythologies (1957) The Eiffel Tower and Other Mythologies (1964) The Death of the Author (1968) @S/Z (1970) @ Empire of Signs (1970) @ The Pleasure of the Text (1975) @ A Lover’s Discourse (1977) * B Image-Music-Text (1977)* Barthes's book S/Z, published in 1970 of some two hundred pages, is about Balzac's thirty- page story 'Sarrasine'. Barthes's method of analysis is to divide the story into 561 lexies', or units of meaning, which he then classifies using five 'codes', seeing these as the basic underlying structures of all narratives. * The larger structure is the system of codes, which Barthes sees as generating all possible actual narratives, just as the grammatical structures of a language can be seen as generating all possible sentences which can be written or spoken in it.The five codes identified by Barthes in S/Z are: 1. The Proairetic code (the narrative drive of the text): This code provides indications of actions. ('The ship sailed at midnight’ ‘They began again’, etc.) The proairetic code encompasses the actions or small sequences of the narrative which creates narrative tension. By telling us that someone 'had been sleeping’, we now anticipate them waking up, thus creating a small structure of narrative tension and expectation. Out of these units, the whole narrative has a forward drive.Roland Barthes' five narrative codes are: Hermeneutic code Proairetic codeRoland Barthes’ five narrative codes are: Hermeneutic code Proairetic codeCultural code Semantic code ca Symbolic code* The Cultural code (the background knowledge of the text): * This code contains references out beyond the text to what is regarded as common + knowledge. The cultural code is constituted by the points at which the text refers to common * bodies of knowledge. These might be agreed, shared knowledge (the real existence of the * Faubourg Saint-Honoré) or an assertion of axiomatic truths.Cultural code % Semantic code @ Symbolic code+ Symbolic codes are best defined as thematic or structural devices. Barthes suggested symbolic codes are a “battle” between contrasting signs.* The Symbolic code (the symbolic structure of the text): * This code is also linked to theme, but on a larger scale, so to speak. It consists of * contrasts and pairings related to the most basic binary polarities - male and female, night and * day, good and evil, life and art, and so on. These are the structures of contrasted elements which * structuralists see as fundamental to the human way of perceiving and organising reality.Multiple answers- pyq * According to Roland Barthes, which of the following “codes” are common to all narratives? * [A]Synthetic code * (B)Proairctic code * (c)Semiccode * [D] Hermencutic code * [E] Symbolic codeClaude Levi Strauss * Claude Lévi-Strauss (1908 —2009) was a French anthropologist and ethnologist whose work was key in the development of the theories of structuralism and structural anthropology. * Major Works: * @ Race and History (1952) * @ Tristes Tropiques (1955) (trans: A World on the Wane) * @ The Savage Mind (1962) * ® Mythologiques (1964) * @ Structural Anthropology (1966)* Lévi-Strauss argued that the “savage” mind had the same structures as the "civilized" * mind and that human characteristics are the same everywhere. These observations culminated * in his famous book Tristes Tropiques (1955) that established his position as one of the central figures in the structuralist school of thought. As well as sociology, his ideas reached into many * fields in the humanities, including philosophy. Structuralism has been defined as "the search * for the underlying patterns of thought in all forms of human activity."Lévi-Strauss spent the second half of the 1960s working on his master project, a four- volume study called Mythologiques. In it, he followed a single myth from the tip of South America and all of its variations from group to group north through Central America and eventually into the Arctic Circle, thus tracing the myth's cultural evolution from one end of the Western Hemisphere to the other. He accomplished this in a typically structuralist way, examining the underlying structure of relationships among the elements of the story rather than focusing on the content of the story itself.* Major Terms and Ideas: + & Structuralist theory of mythology 7] Bricolage a a 2) Mytheme Alliance Theory ES & Floating SignifierStructuralist theory of mythology: * In structural anthropology, Strauss makes the claim that "myth is language". + Through approaching mythology as language, Lévi-Strauss suggests that it can be approached the same way as language can be approached by the same structuralist methods used to address language. * Thus, Lévi-Strauss offers a structuralist theory of mythology; he clarifies, "Myth is language, functioning on an especially high level where meaning succeeds practically at ‘taking off’ from the linguistic ground on which it keeps rolling."Bricolage: + In the arts, bricolage (French for "DIY" or “do-it-yourself projects") is the construction * or creation of a work from a diverse range of things that happen to be available, or a work * constructed using mixed media. * The term bricolage has also been used in many other fields, including anthropology, philosophy, critical theory, education, computer software, and business.Mytheme: * In structuralism-influenced studies of mythology, a mytheme is a fundamental generic unit of narrative structure (typically involving a relationship between a character, an event, and a theme) from which myths are thought to be constructed. * For example, the myths of Greek Adonis and Egyptian Osiris share several elements, leading some scholars to conclude that they share a source.The alliance theory + Alliance theory also known as the general theory of exchanges, is a structuralist method of studying kinship relations. It finds its origins in Strauss's Elementary Structures of Kinship (1949) and is in opposition to the functionalist theory of Radcliffe-Brown.A floating signifier: * Originated by Strauss sometimes also referred to as an empty signifier, is a signifier without a referent in semiotics and discourse analysis, such as a word that points to no actual object and has no agreed upon meaning.* Major Terms and Ideas: * & Structuralist theory of mythology * Bricolage * i Mytheme * J Alliance Theory * @ Floating SignifierCharles Sanders Peirce * Charles Sanders Peirce (1839 —1914) was an American philosopher, logician, mathematician and scientist who is sometimes known as "the father of pragmatism". * Educated as a chemist and employed as a scientist for thirty years, Peirce made major contributions to logic, a subject that, for him, encompassed much of what is now called epistemology and the philosophy of science. * He saw logic as the formal branch of semiotics, of which he is a founder, which foreshadowed the debate among logical positivists and proponents of philosophy of language that dominated 20th-century Western philosophy. * Additionally, he defined the concept of abductive reasoning, as well as rigorously formulated mathematical induction and deductive reasoning.* Works: + & The Fixation of Belief * Terms and Ideas: + & Triadic Model of Sign * 2 Three Kinds of Sign* In contrast to Saussure’s model, Peirce formulated a three-part triadic model consisting of * 1, Interpretant * 2. Representamen * 3. ObjectThree kinds of signs: * Types of Signifiers — The Categories of Signs 1. Index/Indexical * 2. Icon/Iconic * 3. Symbol/Symbolic Na & & Icon Index SymbolThe Semiotics of Charles Sanders Peirce —- Symbols* In contrast to Saussure’s model, Pejrc@ formulated a three-part triadic model consisting of * 1. Interpretant = *2.Representamen =The Semiotics of Charles Sanders Peirce 5 Interpretant | nacre [-raiomtrcms_| sccording to the Referent / Object: Wait or cross the road —_ aoe)Three kinds of signs: * Types of Signifiers — The Categories of Signs * 1. Index/Indexical * 2. Icon/Iconic * 3. Symbol/Symbolic ONS | $2) && Index / | SymbolPeirce said the form a sign takes, its signifier, can be classified as one of three types an icon, an index, or a symbol. 1. An Icon has a physical resemblance to the signified, the thing being represented. A photograph is a good example as it certainly resembles whatever it depicts. 2. An Index shows evidence of what's being represented. A good example is using an image of smoke to indicate fire. 3. A Symbol has no resemblance between the signifier and the signified. The connection between them must be culturally learned. Numbers and alphabets are good examples. There’s nothing inherent in the number 9 to indicate what it represents. It must be culturally learned.* Mythologies was written by : * (A) Roland Barthes (B) Jacques Derrida (C) Homi K. Bhabha (D) Ernest Dowson