Literary Theory and
Methodology
Session Four: Structuralism
Jens Kirk, Dept. of Languages
and Culture
Literary Theory and Methodology
Agenda
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Jakobson’s model of communication
Test
Structuralism: Key concepts
Examples
Jens Kirk, Dept. of Languages
and Culture
Literary Theory and Methodology
Jakobson’s Six Factors of
Verbal Communication
context
Addresser
message
contact
code
Jens Kirk, Dept. of Languages
and Culture
Literary Theory and Methodology
addressee
Jakobson’s Six Functions
of Verbal Communication
Referential
Emotive
poetic
conative
phatic
metalingual
Jens Kirk, Dept. of Languages
and Culture
Literary Theory and Methodology
Test
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Plan a three course meal for Friday
(don’t forget the drink)
Jens Kirk, Dept. of Languages
and Culture
Literary Theory and Methodology
Test
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Analyse:
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The cat sat on the mat
Jens Kirk, Dept. of Languages
and Culture
Literary Theory and Methodology
Structuralism: Key concepts
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Langue
System
Rules
Code
Paradigmatic
relations
Jens Kirk, Dept. of Languages
and Culture
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Parole
Practice
Event
Text
Syntagmatic
relations
Literary Theory and Methodology
Structuralism: key
concepts
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Text and writing, not work
Subject positions, not author
Reading, not reader
Intertextuality
Jens Kirk, Dept. of Languages
and Culture
Literary Theory and Methodology
Structuralism: key
concepts
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Signs, signifiers, and signifieds
The sign is arbitrary
The signifier is linear
Jens Kirk, Dept. of Languages
and Culture
Literary Theory and Methodology
The sign
Signifier
Signified
Jens Kirk, Dept. of Languages
and Culture
Literary Theory and Methodology
The sign
Signifier: cat, /kæt/
Signified:
Jens Kirk, Dept. of Languages
and Culture
Literary Theory and Methodology
The sign
Signifier: cat, /kæt/
Signified:
Jens Kirk, Dept. of Languages
and Culture
Literary Theory and Methodology
The arbitrary sign
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The relation between signifier and
signified is arbitrary, i.e. conventional
Meaning arises from the difference
between the elements of the system:
cat, dog, mouse, cow, etc.
Intertextuality
Jens Kirk, Dept. of Languages
and Culture
Literary Theory and Methodology
Motivated signs? The case
of onomatopoeia
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bow-wow (or woof-woof) in English,
wau-wau in German,
uau-uau in Interlingua,
ouah-ouah in French,
gaf-gaf in Russian,
hav-hav in Hebrew,
wan-wan, bau-bau, or kyan-kyan in Japanese,
guau-guau in Spanish,
bau-bau in Italian,
vov-vov in Danish,
waf waf in Dutch,
wou wou in Cantonese,
hau-hau in Finnish and Polish,
haf-haf in Czech,
guk guk in Indonesian,
meong meong in Korean.
Jens Kirk, Dept. of Languages
and Culture
Literary Theory and Methodology
The signifier is linear
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The signifier is auditory in nature
Spoken signifiers unfold in time one
after another: a temporal line of
audible, phonetic signs
Written signifiers unfold in space one
after another: A spatial line of visible,
graphic signs
Jens Kirk, Dept. of Languages
and Culture
Literary Theory and Methodology
A contrast: painting
Jens Kirk, Dept. of Languages
and Culture
Literary Theory and Methodology
Literature, arbitrarity,
and linearity
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Poetry
Concrete poetry or emblem poems
Typographical experiments
Jens Kirk, Dept. of Languages
and Culture
Literary Theory and Methodology
Literature, arbitrarity, and
linearity (Plath, ”Daddy”)
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You do not do, you do not do
Any more, black shoe
In which I have lived like a foot
For thirty years, poor and white,
Barely daring to breathe or Achoo.
Daddy, I have had to kill you.
You died before I had time-Marble-heavy, a bag full of God,
Ghastly statue with one gray toe
Big as a Frisco seal
And a head in the freakish Atlantic
Where it pours bean green over blue
In the waters off beautiful Nauset.
I used to pray to recover you.
Ach, du.
…
Jens Kirk, Dept. of Languages
and Culture
Literary Theory and Methodology
George Herbert (15931633)
cur
d
dis
and p
A
sed iend rought eath
ease
ain.
bles
fr
b
br
and
ag
Jens Kirk, Dept. of Languages
and Culture
f
w
Literary Theory and Methodology