Structuralism Glossary: Difference: the relation of non-agreement or non-identity between two or more things binary oppositions: a pair of related

terms or concepts that are opposite in meaning. Binary opposition is the system by which, in language and thought, two theoretical opposites are strictly defined and set off against one another. Langue: the social, impersonal phenomenon of language as a system of signs parole: the individual, personal phenomenon of language as a series of speech acts made by a linguistic subject. surface structure: syntactical parole which is the product of transformation from deep structure deep structure: a theoretical construct that seeks to unify several related structures; related to langue sign: language is made up of signs and every sign has two sides (like a coin or a sheet of paper, both sides of which are inseparable) signifier: A sign which conveys meaning signified: the ideational component, the concept or object that appears in our minds when we hear or read the signifier arbitrary: there is no direct connection between the shape and the concept phoneme: the smallest meaningful or significant sound in a language intertextuality: the shaping of texts' meanings by other texts hermeneutic circle: refers to the idea that one's understanding of the text as a whole is established by reference to the individual parts and one's understanding of each individual part by reference to the whole. Neither the whole text nor any individual part can be understood without reference to one another, and hence, it is a circle synchronic: focuses attention on studying a language at one particular timea single momentand emphasizes how the whole state of a particular language functions diachronic: study of language as it changes over time; etymology is an example Structuralist narratology: the science of narrative. Illustrates how a story's meaning develops from its overall structure, its langue, rather than each individual story's isolated theme. internal focalizer: the sort of focalizer who emphasizes the description of his/her thoughts and feelings focalized: the subject of the focalizer syntagmatic: analysis of syntax or surface structure (syntagmatic structure) as opposed to paradigms (paradigmatic analysis) paradigmatic: the analysis of paradigms embedded in the text rather than of the surface structure syntax metaphor: a thing or concept is not called by its own name but by the name of something similar to that thing or concept in an entirely new domain

 metonymy: a thing or concept is not called by its own name, but by the name of something intimately associated with that thing or concept in the same domain. Crown = king, press = newspapers, TV, etc.