Structuralism is a 20th century intellectual movement inaugurated by Claude Levi-Strauss that sought to understand works of art and human activities through their underlying structures. It holds that human perception and thought are constructed by systems like language, which have elements that exist in relation to one another based on rules rather than nature. According to structuralism's founder Ferdinand de Saussure, language operates at two levels - langue as the whole system that precedes speech, and parole as actual utterances. A sign in language is an arbitrary combination of a signifier and signified, with meaning derived through their differences from other signs.

1. OBJECTIVE VIEW!

2. STRUCTURALISMAS A LITERARY MOVEMENT

3.  IT is a 20th century Intellectual movement.
 Inaugurated in 1920 by
CLAUDE LEVI STRAUSS
– CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGIST
 Basically a FRENCH MOVEMENT.
STRURALISM AS A LITERARY MOVEMENT

4. STRUTURALISM is a form of criticism which sought to
understand a work Of art in the context
of structures which has genre, culture and language.

5. Structuralism as a general movement
 Every system has a structure
 Structuralism is what determines the position of each
element of the whole
 Structuralism existence with the CO-EXISTENCE
rather than changes
 Structure are the real things that lie beneath the
surface of appearance of meaning

6. FERDINAND DE SAUSSURE
FATHER OF STURALISM
 STRUCTURALISM holds that all the human activities and its
products even perception and thought
 Itself are constructed not by nature.
 It is closely related to SEMIOLOGY – the study of
sign symbols and communication and how meanings
are constructed and understood
 It is a human science profound effect on linguistics,
sociology, anthropology and other fields in addition to
philosophy.

7. EUROPEON STRUCTURALISM
DE SASSURE was not satisfied
with historical comparison of
language.
He stated that these
comparison only provide
questions that where the
language comes from,
But not what the language is?

8. Units and rules
Structuralists are interested in inter relationship between
units and rules.
 Units are also called surface phenomenon
 Rules the ways that units can be put together
In language, units are words and the rules which are forms of grammar which order
word
.
In different languages, the grammar rules are different but the structure is still same in
all languages : words are put
Together within a grammatical system to make meaning.

9. Properties of structuralism
wholeness
transformation
Self - regulation

10. WHOLENESS
TRANSFORMATION
SELF REGULATION
This means that system works as a whole, not just as a collection of independent parts.
This mean that system is not static but capable of change.
News units can enter the system but they are governed
by grammatical rules of the system
This is related to the transformation. You can add elements to the system but you cannot
change the basic structure no matter what you add to it.
The transformations of a system never lead to anything outside the system.

11. Main tenets
 Language has a structure.(smaller units
arrange systematically to larger ones)
 Language is the combination of signs.
 Language operates at two levels.

12. SIGN
 Sign is essential arbitrary and there is no
natural relationship between signifier.
• Sign is constituted by the signifier and
signified because the words has no meanings

15.  Symbols and signs are the vehicles through which we
conceptualize the things
 So what does it say about the relationship between
language and thought?
 Can you have thought without language
Implications

16. SIGNIFIED AND SIGNIFIER
SIGNIFIER
SIGNIFIED
=SIGN
THINGS THAT GIVES MEANINGS
WHAT IS EVOKED IN MIND?
ANYTHING THAT
CONVEYS MEANING

17. Signifier and Signified
 Saussure explained that a sign was
not only a sound-image but also a
concept.
 Thus he divided the sign into two
components: the signifier (or
"sound-image")
and
the signified (or "concept").
 For Saussure, the signified and
signifier were purely psychological;
they were form rather than
substance.

18.  langue is the whole system of language that
precedes and makes speech possible. A sign
is a basic unit of langue.
 Parole is the concrete use of the language,
the actual utterances. It is an external
manifestation of langue. It is the usage of
the system, but not the system.
Langue and Parole

19. Universality of structuralism
Every human mind in every culture at every point in history has used some sort of
structuring principles to understand and organize cultural phenomenon.
Every human culture has some sort of language, which has basic structure of all
languages; words / phoneme are formed according to the grammatical rules to
produce meanings.
Every human culture similarly has some sort of social organization.
All of these organizations are governed according to structuralist analysis, by the
structure which are universal.

20. Conclusion
Saussure’s structuralism were based on following assumptions:
• Language has a synchronic structure not diachronic.
• Idea of signifier and signified.
• Relationship between signifier and signified is arbitrary.
• Idea of langue and parole.
• Each sign gives meaning due to its difference from other sign.

21. THANKX FOR WATCHING!