Structuralism and Post-Structuralism Class of Ganda Upaya

Structuralism Reaction to humanism (Existentialism Satre) Individual subject to effect of impersonal forces Structure based on language Scientific view of social order based on language

Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913) Instead of an existential world of people shaping their surrounding---the social world are shaped by the structure of language; The existence of langue makes parole possible;

Langue (Saussure) Langue is the formal, grammatical system of language; Langue is a system of signs---a structure in which the meaning of each sign is determined by its relationship with other signs; The meaning of the word hot comes not from some intrinsic properties of the word, but from the word’s relationship with the word cold;

Parole (Saussure) Parole is actual speech, the way speakers use language to express themselves; Units: Cinderella, the stepmother, the prince; The stepmother persecutes Cinderella; The Prince protects Cinderella; We do not speak language but language speak us --- A linguist must look at langue, the formal system of language, not at the subjective ways in which it is used by actors.

Semiotics (Roland Barthes) It refers to the structure of sign systems including language; It encompasses not only language but also other sign and symbol systems such as facial expressions, body language, literary texts, indeed all forms of communication; “Not just language, but wrestling matches are also signifying practices, as are TV shows, fashions, cooking, and just about everything else in everyday life”.

Anthropological Structuralism Claude Levi-Strauss First, terms used to describe kinship, like phonemes in language; All languages are composed of arbitrary groups of sounds called phonemes. Phonemes are the minimal units of sound which a group of speakers consider distinct and which can create a difference in meaning Phonemes themselves are meaningless It is only when they are combined into larger units (morphemes, words, phrases etc) according to certain patterns (rules of syntax and grammar) that phonemes form meaningful units or speech;

Anthropological Structuralism Second, neither the kinship terms nor the phonemes have meaning in themselves unless they are parts of a larger system; Third, though there is empirical variation from setting to setting in both phonemic and kinship systems---they follow certain laws; Both phonemic and kinship systems are products of the unconscious, logical structure of the mind which operate on the basis of general laws;