FRENCH STRUCTURALISM

Angel Iskandar 20170600003

Maria Sisilia 20170600022
Verencia Mercy 20170600011
INTRODUCTION
Structuralism is an intelectual movement which began in France in
the 1950s and it first seen in the work of the anthropologist Claude
Levi-Strauss ( 1908-2009) and the literary critic Roland Barthes
(1915-1980)
Structuralism believe that things cannot be understood in isolation ,
they have to be seen in the context of the larger structures they are
part of. Elements of culture must be understood in terms of their
relationship to a larger system or “structure”
Structuralism is found in all areas of thought and study. The
structuralism mode of reasoning has been applied in a diverse range
of fields, including anthropology, sociology, phychology, literary
criticism, and architecture. Structuralism is interdisciplinary.
FRENCH STRUCTURALISM
Throughout the 19th century and early 20th century
philology, not linguistic, was the science of language
19th century linguistic are mainly interested in the history
of language
Structuralism focuses on the conditions that make
meaning possible, rather than on meaning itself
Roots of Structuralism
Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913)
Saussure revolutionized the study of language. Nineteenth
century linguistics is mainly interested in the history of
language and the origin of individual words. Instead of the
usual historical, diachronic approach – following language
through time – he opted for an a historical one. The
important thing for him was how does language work?
Roots of Structuralism
Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913)
Saussure is also different from what grammarians – the
other type of linguist around in Saussure’s time – used to
do. Grammarians wanted to describe the underlying
grammatical rules that we follow when we talk or write.
So they analysed instances of language use – our
individual utterances, which Saussure called paroles
(plural) – to get at those rules. But Saussure is interested
in how language as such works – in what he called langue
– and not in the grammatical system of this or that
language.
Roots of Structuralism
Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913)
Saussure was interested in how language as such works –
in what he called langue-but in the grammaticalmatrix of
this or that language.
Language is a system of signs.
Those signs are arbitrary and are maintained only by
convention. There is no inherent connection between a
sign and what it designates (the red color and stop).
Roots of Structuralism
Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913)
A word (sign) links a concept (signified) with a sound or
image (signifier). The relationship between the signified
and the signifier is arbitrary. The form of words is not
determined by their relationship with what they refer to.
Saussure traces the origin of the form of words (linguistic
signs) to the principle of differentiation.
The Structural Study of Myth
 Lévi-Strauss spent his years studying myths from around the
world. In his "The Structural Study of Myth",he argues that
myth possessed a structure like language.
 According to Lévi-Strauss, myth has its own characteristics
which distinguish it from its language and which make myth a
language itself. This special attribute of myth is revealed
according to Levi-Strauss in the attempt to translate a mythical
narrative form one language to another.
 According to Levi-Strauss, this is due to the nature of the
structural components which make up a myth which are
irreducible and recurrent across myths.
Structuralist literary criticism
It is a type of literary criticism that derives from
structuralism.
Claude Lévi-Strauss, as a logical consequence of his work
on myths, proposed a search for the underlying structure
of all narratives in all forms of fiction, including
biography and autobiography, travel literature, and so on.
Structuralist critics argue for the possibility of analyzing
literary texts systematically and scientifically.
Structralists ignore biographical and historical
consideration and stress the study of the text.
Structuralist literary criticism
A literary structuralist focuses on structures in "literary"
texts.
Structuralist literary critics link a text with other literary
texts (with texts within the same collection, by the same
author, by the author’s contemporaries, within the same
genre, within the same time period).
Sign of Language
‘Things’ have no place in the model. The elements of
language acquire meaning not as the result of some
connection between words and things, but only as parts of a
system of relations. Consider the sign-system of traffic lights:
red – amber – green
signifier (red), signified (stop)
The sign signifies only within the system ‘red = stop / green =
go / amber = prepare for red or green’. The relation between
signifier and signified is arbitrary: there is no natural bond
between red and stop, no matter how natural it may feel.
Sign of Language
Saussure viewed language as a system of signs which was
to be studied ‘synchronically’ rather than
‘diachronically’,in its historical development. The word
"chronic" has been derived from Greek word "chronos"
which means time.
Synchronic linguistics sees language as a living whole,
existing as a state at a particular point in time. Diachronic
linguistics concerns language in its historical
development. Thus synchronic linguistics deals with
systems whereas diachronic with units.
Thank you !