A very short PPT on Structuralism.

1. Presented by: Imran Nazeer
Roll No: 21103024-076
1

2. STRUCTURALISM IN LINGUISTICS
Definitions:
 The arrangement and relationship between the parts or elements of something
complex. These are underlying principles that governs composition in text
which are used to construct the structure of any piece of writing.
 Structuralism states that human culture is to be understood as a system of
sign. It is an intellectual movement to the human sciences with effects on
linguistics, Sociology & other fields as well as philosophy which tries to analyze a
specific field as a system of interrelated parts which have meanings.
 Structuralism is the study of the structure of the mind. The mind is formed by
the association of ideas.

3. SENTENCE STRUCTURE
According to structuralists, there is a connection among the
words of a sentence. Like, in the given below example: the &
man have a strong connection & man & goes have a strong
relationship to complete the seance of the sentence or to be
understandable the sentence. This relationship is called
syntagmatic relationship. On the other hand, there are different
choices of words that is paradigmatic.
man - goes.
boy - cries. Paradigmatic axis (Choice)
The – child - plays. of Words)
Syntagmatic axis / (Chain)

4. SYSTEM OF SIGN
Unit of knowledge is construct of language (Saussure).
Language determines learning & thinking. So, there is a strong
connection between language & mental concept. Language
has much importance to make us think. When we think then
we construct different ideas like man made a unique shape of
Coke Bottle. Sign is divided into two parts; one is signifier &
the second is signified. There is arbitrary relationship b/w
signifier & signified as “GOD” has different connection in
different culture. So, the relationship is not fixed b/w signifier
& signified. There is binary connection b/w words as:
Man vs Woman, Table vs Chair, Cat vs Dog, Human vs Animal

5. SYSTEM OF SIGN
SIGN
Object / thing
SIGNIFIER
The physical existence
(Sound, Word, Image)
Read, Leat, Round, Apple
SIGNIFIED
The mental concept
Fruit / Apple / Freshness
Healthy / Temptation / Teacher’s
pet / Computer

6. CONCLUSION
When we say “TREE” under that word tree, we mean a kind of
representation of a living thing which has leaves, roots, shoot
system, all kind of that representation. So, if we want to
generate the idea of tree then we should use alphabets as
“TREE”. So, the mental concept is signified which we want to
convey, and we convey our message with the help of language
and that language is signifier. In this way, SAUSSURE try to
explore the structuralist approach with the help of sign.

7. THANKS
END