STRUCTURALISM

Ferdinand De Saussure
 All languages are governed by
their own internal rules that do
not mirror or imitate the structure
of the world. Structure of
Emphasizing the systematized Language
nature of language, Saussure
asserts that all languages are
composed of basic units called
emes.
 LANGUE
• the structure of the language that is mastered
and shared by all its speakers
• emphasizes the social aspect of language and an
understanding of the overall language system.
Structure of
PAROLE Language
• an individual's actual speech utterances and
writing- that is, linguistic features such as
loudness or softness that are overlaid on
language's structure, its langue.
• Rejecting the long-held belief that a word
is a symbol that equals a thing (its
referent), Saussure proposed that:

Signifier
SIGN = Saussure’s
Signified
Redefinition of
• Signs are arbitrary, conventional, and a Word
differential, Saussure concludes that the
proper study of language is not an
examination of isolated entities but the
system of relationships among them.
• The proper study of meaning- and
therefore, reality- they assert, is an
investigation of the system behind these
practices (langue), not the individual
practices themselves (parole).
• Such a belief presupposes that the Assumptions
structure of literature is similar to the
structure of language. Like language, say
the structuralists, literature is a self-
enclosed system of rules that is composed
of language.
• To structuralists, how a symbol or any
other signs functions is of chief
importance, not how literary devices
imitate reality or express feelings.
• No longer can the text be autonomous. All Assumptions
texts, declare structuralists, are part of
the shared system of meaning that is
intertextual- all texts refer readers to
other texts.
 ROLAND BARTHES
• Barthes declares that all language is its
own self-enclosed system based on binary
operations.
• Only through recognizing the codes or
binary operations within the text, says Assumptions
Barthes, can the message encoded within
the text be explained.
• Decoding the text by understanding the
relationships of codes.
 Claude Levi-Strauss
• After reading countless myths, Levi-
Strauss identified recurrent themes
running through all of them.
• These basic structures, which he called
mythemes, are similar to the primary Assumptions
building blocks of language, the
phonemes. And like phonemes, such
relationships often involve oppositions.
• The meaning of any individual myth
depends on the interaction and order of
the mythemes within the story.
 Paul Vehvilainen
Five-point system of Narrative Function
• A lack of something exists.
• This lack forces the hero to go on a quest to
eliminate this lack.
• During the quest, the hero encounters a Assumptions
magical helper.
• This helper is subjected to one or more
tests.
• After passing the test(s), the hero receives a
reward.
 Tzvetan Todorov
There are five stages the narrative can
progress through:
• A state of equilibrium
• A disruption of that order by an event
• A recognition that the disorder has occurred Assumptions
• An attempt to repair the damage of the
disruption
• A return or restoration of a new equilibrium