Structuralism & Semiotics Ferdinand de Saussure, Claude Levi-Strauss & Roland Barthes
Outline Structuralism Starting Questions Context: Emergence & Transformation Basic Concepts Linguistics: F. de Saussure, Discussion Questions Narratology: Levi Strauss, Discussion Questions Examples for Practice Propp, etc. Example: Bartleby the Scrivener Semiotics analysis of signs
Starting Questions What is structuralism? And structural linguistics, structural anthropology? Do you agree with the basic assumptions of structuralism? Can we use structuralist narratology on Bartleby the Scrivener? Can you give an example where language produces reality?
Historical Context: linguistics, anthropology, cultural semiotics 1) Ferdinand de Saussure, a Swiss linguist (1857~1913) 2) the French Jewish anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss fled the Nazi occupation of France in World War II, he escaped to New York City and met Roman Jakobson (a Russian formalist). 3) Levi-Strauss structuralist anthropologist 4) Roland Barthes -- (How to 41)
Historical Context: From Structuralism to Post-Structuralism 1) (How to 45) Roland Barthes Michel Foucault (deconstruction) Derrida 2) Basic Differences between Structuralism Structure singular, universal and/or stable Language as a model Poststructuralism Multiplicity (chain of differences) Discourse
Ferdinand de Saussure: Basic Concepts Language as a system of signs rather than a naming process. A sign is composed of soundimage and concept, or signifier and signified. The relationship between signifier and signified is arbitrary. Language as a system of difference: in language there are only differences without positive terms. meaning? Synchronic approach: with an analogy to chess game. Signification and value (How to pp. 41)
System of Language Saussure: Language is a system of interdependent terms in which the value of each term results solely from the simultaneous presence of others (COURSE IN GENERAL LINGUISTICS 114) Two dimensions of language a sign is always in paradigmatic and syntagmatic relations with other signs.
Arbitrariness & Linearity 1. Sign, signified and signifier (COURSE IN GENERAL LINGUISTICS 114) Principle I: arbitrariness; e.g. onomatopeia; interjections Principle II: linear nature of the signifier; two axis axis of simultaneities; axis of succession Chess game as an example of synchrony. dog, chien Onomatopoeia ( 擬聲字 ) & hieroglyphics e.g. Cock-a-doodle-do, cocorico & 喔喔啼 ; ruff & 汪汪
Language as a System of Difference A rose is a rose, because it is different from..., and it appears in a sentence: my love is like a red, red rose. [ros] Carnation grass [doz] rose (p. of rise)
Language as a System of Difference Subject+Verb+Object+ Predicate I saw a girl in red. (syntagmatic relations) am a boy a table paradigmatic relations Relation: toy boy (sound), table (noun; inanimate), Difference: Binaries girl (antinonyms)
Relations & DifferenSign, Sound-Image, Concept, Value & Referent 1. Language as Organized Thought Coupled with Sound (or Concept with Sound-Image) 2. A sign s position in a language =value 3. Linguistic value from a conceptual viewpoint * system of relations: exchange and comparison * the difference between signification (producing meanings) and value (a sign s relation with other signs) * different languages // different conceptual frameworks 3. Linguistic value from a material viewpoint Arbitrary and differential are two correlative qualities. Letters completely negative and differential. COURSE IN GENERAL LINGUISTICS
Binaries awe Be wary Sign Value fear scared Signifier Signified Fright en-ed dread Paradigmatic Sytagmatic Synchronic Diachronic Metaphor Metonymy How to p. 72; distinction of synecdoche & metonymy
De Saussure: Q & A What do you think about Saussure s emphasis on signifier as sound-image? Is meaning construction in language completely arbitrary? How do we look at the phrase a white horse is not a horse 白馬非馬 ; from Saussurean perspective? (is = is not identical with ; is not part of )
A White Horse is not a Horse 白馬非馬 馬者, 所以命形也 ; 白者, 所以命色也 命色者非名形也 故曰 : 白馬非馬 公孫龍子 - 白馬論第二 1. [Original] White: color Horse: Shape, 2. Horse : large category White horse: small category 3. [Structuralist] White horse: a sign that refers to a concept of white horse, but not the real horse (referent).
De Saussure sign = signifier and signified Signifier + Signified Referent [white horse] Concept of white horse Horse in real life
Structuralist Narratology Levi-Strauss & Narrative Focalization
Claude Levi-Strauss: Structuralist Anthropology Language as at once the prototype of the cultural phenomenon and the phenomenon whereby all the forms of social life are established and perpetuated (Structural Anthropology 358-9). Each 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 language.(hawkes 34)
Claude Levi-Strauss: Structuralist Anthropology (2) Kinship incest taboo the importance of avuncular figures (uncles) and exchange of women; Savage Mind bricoleur 1. The way the so-called primitive man responds 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): Myth His approach: not to find how men think in myths, but how myths think in men, unbeknown to them (qtd. Hawkes 41) To find the unconscious structure of myth basic elements as well as their combination which underpin and formulate our total view of the world. Basic elements: mythemes gross constituent units formed into a bundle of relations (bundle a set of items sharing the same functional trait).
The Structural Study of Myth Intro: 1. previous studies of myth 2. Basic question: why are myths all over the world so similar? 3. Theoretic framework: langue and parole 4. Summary of his main points and working hypothesis on myth and mythemes 5. Examples of bundles of relations orchestra; deck of cards Example 1: Oedipus autochthony Example 2: the trickster of American mythology 1) trickster as mediator; 2) related to Freud
Claude Levi-Strauss (3): Myth & Orchestra Myth always works simultaneously on two axes...like an orchestral score an orchestra score, to be meaningful, must be read diachronically along one axis that is, page after page, and from left to right and synchronically, along the other axis, all the notes written vertically making up one gross constitute unit, that is, one bundle of relations.
Myth & Orchestra Levi-Strauss Myth as Orchestra --with melody and chords, rhythm and their variations ; relations on two axes The chords in myths are repeated with variation 神話的和聲結構 : 二元對立 dualism. (Ref. 李亦園 pp. 2-3 神話與意義 )
Myth & Orchestra: e.g. Oedipus Four columns bundles; 1. overrating the blood relations; 2. underrating of blood relations; 3. monsters being slain denial of the autochthonous origin of mankind; 4. difficulties in walking straight autochthonous (indigenous) origin of mankind Oedipus myth provides a kind of logical tool which relates the original problem born from one or born from two? to the derivative problem: born from different or born from the same? By a correlation of this type, the overrating of blood relations is to the underrating of blood relations as the attempt to escape autochthony ( 土著, 本地人 ) is to the impossibility to succeed in it (Structural Study of Myth )
Levi-Strauss: Questions Do you agree with Levi-Strauss way of interpreting the Oedipus myth? Do we have other legends and myths to support his argument for a common structure for myths all over the world? Or mythemes as the basic units? Do we always think in binary terms? What can be the problems in binarism?
Examples for Practice & Discussion The study of grammar used in sit com or sci-fi films, detective fiction e.g. Lucy e.g. hero in Star Trek Watson figure or the revelation of murder method vs. murderer Hermeneutic Circle The Author is dead. (Language writes us; we do not create meaning with language.) Role of exception helps reveal the rule Binaries connected with social and cultural codes (How to p. 57)
Structuralist narratology: Vladimir Propp Modeled after a Stence: Subject + predicate = Actant (Actor) + function 7 actors, or "spheres of action" (villain, hero, false hero, donor[provider], helper, dispatcher, princess [and her father]) and 31 functions. * An actant is not a character, but a role a character takes.
Story & Discourse Story Story Story fabula Functions: contractive (breaking/setting contract, alienation, reintegration ), disjunctive (departure, arrival), and performative (trial, task). Discourse Plot Narrative Sjuzet Focalization Free Indirect Discourse Narrative Embedding Narrative Reliability (How to p. 62)
Narrative Elements Narrator Narratee Narrative Function Perspective Focalization & Scope Plot Narrative Functions Kinds 1 st, 2 nd, 3 rd person Omniscient, reliable, unreliable, internal, external, multiple Invoked, Implied reader Internal, external Verification, knowledge transmission, author surrogate, authority establishment, etc. Omniscient narrator: zero focalization Internal focalization (narrator as character) external (narrator as bystander) fixed, multiple, changing Mise en abyme Double plot, multiple plot 31 functions, 7 actants 3 pairs of actants, 3 syntagm
Representation & Roland Barthes Semiotics Structuralism (3)
Outline 1. Representation Theories of Representation De Saussure Re-Considered: Contribution & Limitations 2. Semiotics: Major principles in semiotic readings Sign systems: fashion as an example Semiotic reading (1): denotation and connation Semiotic reading (2): first and second-order signification. (literal language and meta-language) Myth today defined 3. Examples: Images of Nature in some Landscape Paintings and Ads
What is Representation? Not Re-Presentation Representation means using language to say something meaningful about, or to represent, the world meaningfully, to people. (15) 1. Using language (system of representation); 2. To produce meanings (another system of representation) about (make connections among) things, and 3. To communicate them to some people.
What are the two systems of representation we use in representation (meaning production)? 1. Signs signifier (e.g. love I ) Codes (pp. 21-22) 2. Conceptual System (pp. 17-18; e.g. love romantic love, puppy love, maternal love, etc.) frequently inseparable from the signified of our languages
Different Perspectives = Different Conceptual Systems
1. Conceptual System = the Context of a sign, which determines its meaning 2. Sign system image or English letters
Theories of Representation Reflective approach Some truth and functions to it (in communication, in knowledge acquisition) Representation as Re-Presentation Intentional approach Can we decide the meanings of what we say? (p. 25) Representation as Self-Expression Constructivist approach Things don t mean; we construct meanings about them by using different systems of representation. Representation as Construction: We don t speak language; language speaks us. (Activity 4)
De Saussure: Contribution & Limitations (pp. 32 35) Contributions to the Constructionist Theory of Representation Arbitrary relations between signifier and signified Meanings in language can never be fixed; they are open to changes by context (historical, social or personal). Langue vs. parole the social part of language; Limitations: too exclusive focus on language; Language is not a closed system. semiotics the study of signs (languages in a broader sense)
Semiotics & Roland Barthes
Major principles 1. All the cultural products and activities read as process or results of signification. No meaning is inherent or natural. 2. There are more than one (arbitrary) relations between signifiers and signified. (iconic --resemblance, indexical --cause, symbolic -- arbitrary). 3. There are more than one level of meanings. denotation and connotation.
What kinds of signs are they? Iconic Symbolic indexical = Church = crossroad = airport
Sign System: Fashion as an Example Fashion codes (signs + concepts) Fabric: Silk= feminine, denim= masculine, casual, cotton = comfortable, khaki= military, formal. skirt (+ silk)= feminine; jeans (+ cotton T-Shirt) =casual or masculine
Sign System: Rules of Selection and Combination All social practices as sign-systems and thus are open to cultural interpretation (or demystification). e.g. the meaning of a jacket defined by its contexts. e.g. System: the langue of clothes (selection & combination) a. blouse, shirt, T-shirt ; b. skirt, trousers sentence: 1. blouse + skirt + high heeled shoes X snickers 2. blouse + jeans + snickers X not for concert
Fashion and Myth: from denotation to connotation; description to prescription... Mist gold, pure gold, and black gold are all flashing in full glamour since most collections are heavily weighted toward evening clothes with an ostentatious dressing chic. If gold is too much for you, don t worry, for here comes the backup that makes you in style as well, the color of camel! As usual, camel has always been playing its role of warming up the winter, which has been so elegantly carried out by the blazing gold as it is this year. (Sophie Ko)
Fashion: from language to myth Leather, of course, is something that can t be left out in each winter. Fur, for sure, is a must, especially for collars, As for trousers, they really do need to be slimfitting and skinny-legged to be chic this season! myth: 紫醉金迷, aesthetics of fin-de-siècle (Sophie Ko)
Semiotic reading (1): Denotation and Connotation e.g. Panzani pasta
Semiotic reading (1): Denotation and Connotation e.g. Panzani pasta 1. Denotation: the real objects in the scene The signifiers: these same objects photographed. 2. Connotation: half-opened bag spilling out onto the table freshness, the domestic Italianness (red green white) a total culinary service Arrangement like still life painting
Semiotic reading (2): Different levels of signification: primary signification & secondary signification a signifier + signified = sign (full)--denotation primary signification: Secondary signification Sign (empty)/ Form + content = sign --connotation
Semiotic reading (2): Different levels of signification: primary signification & secondary signification Signifier + signified = ([home]) sign (full)--denotation primary signification: Secondary signification Barthes examples: rose, black pebble. Sign (empty)/ Form + content = sign --connotation: Homepage, country cottage, etc.
Paris Match photo of black soldier saluting the flag Source: https://courses.nus.edu.sg/ course/elljwp/parismatch.ht m
Myth colonialism militariness Signifier + signified = Young negro, in uniform, saluting, With eyes uplifted, fixed on the tricolor primary signification: Secondary signification sign (full) denotation ([Black solider saluting a French flag]) Patriotism/submission Sign (empty)/ Form + content = sign --connotation: France as a Great empire, loved by all her sons.
Myth : distortion, naturalizing The form(on the secondary level) does not suppress the original meaning, it only impoverishes it, it puts it at a distance... myth hides nothing: its function is to distort, not to make disappear Target: Myth has an imperative, buttonholing character:...it is I whom it has come to seek.... For this interpellant speech is at the same time a frozen speech: at the moment of reaching me, it suspends itself, turns away and assumes the look of a generality; it stiffens, it makes itself looks natural and innocent
Signs are for us to encode, decode and then encode. http://visualmemory.co.uk/daniel/documents/s4b/sem08c.html