Structuralism & Poststructuralism (1): Linguistic (De-)Constructions of Meanings and Subjectivities

1. Structuralism--Basic Concepts 2. Structuralist Reading of Narratives 3. Semiotics and "The Myth Today" 4. From Structuralism to Poststructuralism: Binary Opposition & Deconstruction

Structuralism: Introduction
1. How does language produce meanings?
2. Structuralist Approach (1): basic pattern and binary opposition How is structure different from form? How is New Criticism different from Structuralism?

Outline

1. How does language produce meanings?

A. Language in Daily Language: Example 1 B. Different views of language: Example 2: sign = signifier and signified referent; -- Structuralist view

2. Structuralist Approach (I):Binary Opposition and Basic Pattern Example: 1, 2, 3, 4 3. From New Criticism to Structuralism

A. Language in Daily Language

the uncertainties of meanings. The meanings of language are not inherent ( )They depend on the context. Structuralism: Language is a system of relation and difference.
White Horse is Not Horse. Why?


Possible interpretations
- 1. 2. 3. Structuralism: is a sign; it refers to our concept of white horse, but not the actual horse.

De Saussure sign = signifier and signified

Signifier + [] Signified concept of Referent the actual we refer to (?)

The inclusion of the concept within the triad of signification suggests that there is no natural or immediate relation between the words(as a sign) and the thing(actual white horse).

Different Views of Language

A. In Chinese Philosophy reference :symbols? the meanings referred to or

Different Views of Language

B. Structuralism: Meanings happen in language. A rose is a rose, because it is different from . . .
[ros] Carnation

grass rose (p. of rise)

[doz]

Different Views of Language

B. Structuralism:
Meanings happen in language. A rose is a rose, because -- its phoneme [o] is different from [ai] in [rise]; -- its morpheme [rose] is different that with an extra morpheme [roses]; Its meaning is determined by the syntax or context it exists in ; e.g. Then glut thy sorrow on a morning rose . . . Plant thou no roses at my head, Nor shady cypress tree: Be the green grass above me With showers and dewdrops wet; The pillow rose and floated under her, pleasant as a hammock in a light wind.

sign = signifier and signified

"The linguistic sign is arbitrary. It is unmotivated, i.e. arbitrary in that it actually has no natural connection with the signified." -- e.g. The signs dog, chien, arbitrarily refer to the concept of the animal dog. -- Can be replaced by other signs; -- Can create ambiguities. -- What about Onomatopoeia, ? Are there natural resemblances between the signs and what they refer to? e.g. Cock-a-doodle-do, cocorico & ; ruff & )

structural linguistics: Ferdinand de Saussure (textbook chap 3 pp. 89-95)

1857-1913, Swiss linguist; one of the founders of modern linguistics. Major ideas: 1. The synchronic vs. the diachronic; langue vs. parole 2. Language is a system of difference. Meaning occurs in binary opposition between two signs. (e.g. toy, boy) 3. sign = signifier and signified; the connection between them is arbitrary.

Language as a system of relation and difference

Relations: toy boy (sound),
table (noun; grammatical unit), girl (antonym), etc.

Difference: binary opposition I saw a girl in red. (syntagmatic relations) I am a girl.

a boy, a dog,

(paradigmatic relations)

an ironing board.

Different Views of Language

de Saussure: synchronic studies of language as a system of difference; Roman Jakobson: meaning happens in

communication from sender to receiver, determined also by the medium and code used. Kristevas the semiotic: The language as rhythms and drives supporting and disrupting the logical/linear communication in language. Atwood: Language as both social and self constructions. (e.g. love and her narration)

Structuralist Approach (1): Basic Objects of Study

Units: Example phonemes words Princess, prince and a stepmother
Patterns of basic units; --of selection and combination

Rules: How to combine into words Select and combine into a sentence.
combine into a fairytale. (Snow White and Cinderella are in structure the same story.)

Structuralism: From Units & Rules to

Basic Structure of a Certain Langue
Langue or signifying -- "fashion (in clothes, system : food, cars, etc.) Examples: -- any kind of advertisement -- Literary work, -- narratives (e.g. myth) -- tribal or community ritual (a wedding, a rain dance, a graduation ceremony)

Structuralist Approach (1)

Structuralism: Examine the basic

elements (or basic units), which form the basic pattern (or grammar) of each story. Basic elements: + universal (or common) grammar a scientific approach to literature. e.g. binary opposition

Practice I:
? Binary opposition between and between the speaker () and 1. 2. ( 3. Speaker : human
attempts to conquer the impossible

Practice I:
Variation (1): ? source:
Another basic unit: Mythemes (or themes): -- Liebestod (love death). -- Conquering Nature: Prometheus

Practice I:
Variation (2): Variation (3): .

Practice II:
The Jilting of Granny Weatherall New Criticism: -- ironic tension built around the concept of jilting and weatherall vs. aging. -- ambiguities produced in Grannys mind.

Granny Weatherall: A Structuralist Reading

binary opposition between being jilted and trying to love and to keep; Differences: -- jilted by her lover her husband (who died) -- keeps a farm house and all the children but not Hapsy loses her youth and beauty, -- loses touch with reality (without her knowing it) but keeps her self-consciousness; -- almost jilted by God keeps her dignity by facing her death. (Her greatest loss is also a greatest gain.)

Practice III:
The Oval Portrait binary opposition between

Living background-- night, delirium of the speaker vs. clear narration of the past abandoned castle:, vs. decoration rich but tattered and antique; Armorial trophies vs. paintings in frames of rich golden arabesque Image alive and soft vs. thick frame and the tradition of vignetting

Practice 4
Cube Man Cube: Try to find out its

pattern and what different signs refer to. e.g. signs of human bodily parts, human tools, human actions; setting.

Cube Men Cube

by Cerrit van Didn

Beginning and ending: why different?

Cube Men Cube: ending

Cube Men Cube

Setting one: outdoor scene; one cube appears.

Cube Men Cube

Setting two:grass (then with zipper);

Cube Men Cube

Setting three: domestic scene;
Cloud

Cube Men Cube

Setting four: outdoor again, smoking and producing little cubes.

Cube Men Cube

Setting five: building facade

Cube Men Cube

Tools: zipper, camera, Human Action: national flag, taking photos, singing, doubling, lifting one Human attributes: eye, flap after another, hand, photos,

Cube Men Cube

Action: swimming in a clothes-like sea, smoking, birthing, fighting

Cube Men Cube

Human: buildings, money bill, Tools: hand (fist), foot, stone, gun, machine gun, cannon

Cube Men Cube: Interpretation

1.

Theme:
gradual loss of nature; (e.g. nature zipped, in snow ball) A story of human growth, connections(e,g, human tools; doubling actions, extinguishing fire) and achievements, which turns to have more and more conflicts (cigarette, canon). Human beings presented as cubes so that
1. Humans and their lives are simplified and de-naturalized just a group of signs forming some patterns; 2. Humans with layers; 3. Merging of humans and objects (e.g. tea box; camera eye; bird becoming one layer of a cube) 4. Background music light and beautiful, but can be militarist songs, too.

Form:

From New Criticism to Structuralism: Search for the common or the universal
Form
an entity with interrelated parts.

Structure: basic pattern

Pygmalion And Galatea, by Jean-Leon Gerome, after 1881

From New Criticism to Russian Formalism Structuralism 1920s

New Criticism: set up studies of English

Literature as a discipline. In the 50s, there are more attempts at making English studies scientific and objective. e.g. archetypal approaches; Northrop Frye
spring comedy summer autumn winter satire

romance tragedy

From New Criticism to Structuralism

Compared with New Criticism,

structuralist approaches to literature are -- reductive; -- more objective & scientific, does not rely on common sense. -- anti-Humanist -- Form to Structure, (later multiple language structures and the racial relations they imply).

Readings for next week:

Structuralism: Historical development,

sections on Saussure and Assumptions chap 3 (87-98; 100) "Should Wizard Hit Mommy?"

Feel Free to read more.