Structuralism in Linguistics An intellectual adventure

1. Structuralismin LinguisticsAn intellectual adventure With Skylar. M., Gavin. R. and Zane. M.

2. What is Structuralism? • It is breaking down everything in any given language into the smallest observable units. • Breaking down a language into the sounds, symbols and combinations of symbols and sounds that create meaning and develop the language entirely.

3. Who first developed this idea? • The Swedish linguist Ferdinand de Saussure first developed this idea by stressing the concept of a language only being a static set of interconnected units. • This was summarised in the book Course in General Linguistics written by Charles Bally and Albert Sechehaye, from notes taken during Ferdinand de Saussure’s lectures in the University of Geneva, from the years 1906 to 1911.

4. Phoneme • The Greek word for a sound uttered • The absolute smallest unit of meaning in a language • A phoneme is a sound • It is an abstract sound within a multitude of sounds considered to be speech. • Phonemes are not always identical and may vary between pronunciation of said sounds. E.X. the “K” in Knight, Kite, Skill and Kick • The phoneme can change the entire meaning behind a word

5. Phonemes • For example: • Bow – a weapon to project arrows • Bow – to bend at the waist in respect • Bow – front of a ship or watercraft • Bow – bent wooden stick tied with horse hair to play a musical instrument • Two are pronounced as Bow emphasizing the B and the O sounds, whereas two are pronounced Bow emphasizing the O and the W sounds. • This changes the meaning of the word entirely

6. Grapheme • Greek for Write • Another of the smallest units of literature • A Grapheme is a symbol that may or may not carry meaning by it’s self and may or may not represent a single phoneme. • Graphemes are letters, numbers and punctuation • There can be multiple phonemes in a grapheme and also multiple graphemes for a single phoneme (Mulitgraph), sometimes a grapheme has no phoneme at all

7. Morpheme • These may or may not be free standing, but it is a series of sounds that carries meaning and can be used in Lexemes • Free Morphemes – can be free standing although they can be used in lexemes as well. Ex Town and Fish. Town hall and Fish net • Bound Morphemes – are only ever part of a word, they can never be free standing as the have no meaning if they are no bound. Ex Un and Re • Derivational – when combined with a root word they can change the meaning of said word the Un in Unhappy, the Ness in rudeness. • Inflectional – this changes the tense of a word for example the Ed in happened or the Re in Rediscovered

8. Lexeme • A lexeme is a set of forms taken by a single word • This can be observed in English as Live, Lived, Lives and Living Lemmas This is the dictionary headword for a lexeme or set of morphemes For example : Swim is the Lemma for Swim, Swam and Swimming

9. Synchronic Analysis • Synchronic analysis is the study of linguistics the moment that it happens, this is extremely difficult to classify because it raises the question of what is the present. This can be observed in written and vocal communication, Synchronic analysis is the immediate understanding of language. In a conversation you understand the spoken words using synchronic analysis. This is followed shortly after by Diachronic analysis as you reflect upon earlier conversations.

10. Diachronic Analysis • Diachronic analysis is reflecting upon earlier conversations or written passages. Diachronic analysis can differ strongly from Synchronic analysis, as you may understand a statement in a particular manner within the immediate moment of it being spoken; Diachronic analysis you may interpret the statement in a different manner.

11. Paradigmatic Analysis • Substituting words of the same class into a sentence to change the connotation but not the meaning of the sentence. • For example we can state: • The boy kicked the ball • Now any of these words can be swapped with another word of the same class. EX Boy, Man, Girl, Woman, Child, Children etcthis can change the specificity of the sentence but not the general meaning.