Structuralism

1、StructuralismDe Saussure and Claude Levi-StraussOutlinepStarting QuestionspF. de Saussure: general intro; our reading; final questionspLevi Strauss: general intro; our reading; final questions Starting QuestionspWhat is structuralism? And structural linguistics, structural anthropology? pDo you agre

2、e with the basic assumptions of structuralism? pDo you find todays readings difficult or interesting or ?Ferdinand de SaussurepLanguage as a system of signs rather than a naming process. A sign is composed of sound-image and concept, or signifier and signified. pThe relationship between signifier an

3、d signified is arbitrary. Language as a system of difference: “in language there are only differences without positive terms. pSynchronic approach: with an analogy to chess game. pSignification and value System of Language pSaussure: “Language is a system of inter-dependent terms in which the value

4、of each term results solely from the simultaneous presence of others” (textbook: 969) pTwo dimensions of language a sign is always in paradigmatic and syntagmatic relations with other signs. Introduction, Chap III. The Object of Linguistics1.Place of Language in the Facts of Speech; p. 9602.Semiolog

5、y and the importance of language; p. 961-623.Sign, signified and signfier p. 963pPrinciple I: arbitrariness p. 964; onomatopeia 965; interjections 966pPrinciple II: linear nature of the signifier; two axisaxis of simultaneities; axis of successionpChess game as an example of synchrony. Part II, Chap

6、 IV 1.Language as Organized Thought Coupled with Sound p. 966- 2.Linguistic value from a conceptual viewpointp* system of relations: exchange and comparison 969 p* the difference between signification and value 970; p* different languages / different conceptual frameworks 3. Linguistic value from a

7、material viewpoitn pArbitrary and differentail are two correlative qualities. 971 pLetters completely negative and differential. Part II, Chap IV (2) 4. The Sign Considered in its TotalitypDifference makes character just as it makes value and the unit. Chapter V. Syntagmatic and Associative Relation

8、s pWhat are they and why are they important concept? De Saussure: Q & ApWhat do you think about Saussures emphasis on signifier as sound-image? pIs meaning construction in language completely arbitrary? pHow is Saussures views of language different from or similar to that expressed in 夏宇s 失蹤的象?

9、Example 2: Different views of language言者，所以在意，得意而忘言。莊子外物得兔忘蹄、得魚忘筌、得意忘言 王弼說：言者象之蹄也，象者意之筌。言者所以明象，得象而忘言。象者所以存意，得意而忘象。 （reference 語言（言、象:象卦symbols?用為做工具意：the meanings referred to or 道 Claude Levi-Strauss: Structuralist AnthropologypLanguage as at once the prototype of the cultural phenomenon and the phe

10、nomenon whereby all the forms of social life are established and perpetuated” (Structural Anthropology 358-9).pEach system, that is, kinship, food, political ideology, marriage ritual, cooking, etc. constitutes a partial expression of the total culture, conceived ultimately as a single gigantic lang

11、uage.(Hawkes 34) Claude Levi-Strauss: Structuralist Anthropology (2)pTriste Tropiques started with “I hate traveling and explorers.” pWhat is the contradiction Levi-Strauss himself is covering over? One answer is suggested by his publication of The Structural Study of Myth” at the same time as Trist

12、e Tropiques. “While Triste Tropiques expresses the pain and mourns the destructive impact of Western civilization on non-Western people, the study of myth sees the different moments of human history as structurally simultaneous. (textbook 1417)1.Cultural relativism vs. narrative of progress; 2.The d

13、estruction of the primitive societies total so as to internalize the lost object (textbook 1418)Claude Levi-Strauss: Structuralist Anthropology (2)Kinship incest taboo the importance of avuncular figures (uncles) and exchange of women; Savage Mind bricoleur1.The way the so-called primitive man respo

14、nds to the world around him. 2.science of the concrete: arranging the minutiae(small and often unimportant details) of the physical world in their profusion by means of a logic foreign to us. Claude Levi-Strauss (3): MythpHis approach: not to find how men think in myths, but how myths think in men,

15、unbeknown to them (qtd. Hawkes 41)pTo find the unconscious structure of myth basic elements as well as their combinationwhich underpin and formulate our total view of the world. pBasic elements: mythemes gross constituent units formed into a bundle of relations (bundle a set of items sharing the sam

16、e functional trait). “The Structural Study of Myth”pIntro:1. previous studies of myth (handout 101)2.Basic question: why are myths all over the world so similar?3.Theoretic framework: langue and parole p. 103; 4.Summary of his main points and working hypothesis on myth and mythemes p. 104 5.Examples

17、 of bundles of relations orchestra; deck of cardsnExample 1: Oedipus (105-109) autochthonynExample 2: the trickster of American mythology (110-113) 1) trickster as mediator (p.112); 2) related to Freud nConclusion: 114Claude Levi-Strauss (3): Myth & OrchestrapMyth always works simultaneously on

18、two axes. . .like an orchestral score p“an orchestra score, to be meaningful, must be read diachronically along one axisthat is, page after page, and from left to rightand synchronically, along the other axis, all the notes written vertically making up one gross constitute unit, that is, one bundle

19、of relations.” 神話與交響樂 p李維史陀的結構人類學理論p將神話比為交響樂，p交響樂不只有旋律還有和聲；也就是在樂譜上有橫的和縱的兩個向度的關係。交響樂要利用不同的樂器不斷地重複奏出主題或主題的變奏，成為動人的和聲。p神話也有旋律和和聲兩個向度；像和聲一樣產生重複與變奏的內在結構。只是這個結構需要研究者分析才能找出。（李亦園 pp. 2-3 神話與意義p神話的和聲結構：二元對立 dualism. 神話與交響樂: e.g. Oedipus pFour columns bundles; 1. overrating the blood relations; 2. underrating

20、 of blood relations; 3. monsters being slaindenial of the autochthonous origin of mankind; 4. difficulties in walking straight autochthonous origin of mankind (107)p “Oedipus myth provides a kind of logical tool which relates the original problem born from one or born from two? to the derivative problem: