Empiricism, Pragmatism and Structuralism
Review of symbols from last week -We imbue them with meaning --Arbitrarily: no necessary connection between word and thing/meaning --Conventionality: build connections over time --Differentiality
Structuralism vs. Empiricism and Pragmatism
-Main differences
--Empirically: all words refer to things or mental images of things (no assumptions)
--Pragmatism: the use of a word is its meaning (no underlying meaning)
--Structuralism: (According to Phillips) -Language examined independently of its referents -Anything outside language can be said to be what language refers to
--Language is a structure, or a system --Any utterance can be analyzed according to the structure that underlies it --Structura: A fitting together, an adjustment, a building -Strues: A heap -Stere: To spread or stretch out
--Example: in a relationship, ask if something’s wrong and they say “nothing” --Conflicts about a language game
Saussure’s Schema of the Sign * Signifier--> “sensible” part of the verbal sign (phonemes) * Signified--> “meaning”: an interpretation added to the signifier
Sign= Signifier/signified
--Example: roses on Valentine’s Day
Synchronic v. diachronic Synchronic: A network of language Diachronic: How does language change over time
--Langue: The system of language, the system of language and how it relates to other elements, the “arrangement of interrelated elements and accounts for the way these elements relate to each other” --Parole: the individual utterance, an instantiation of the system --Is this distinction useful? What does it allow?
--Example: hashtag, LOLcats, input
-Are there any problems associated with this approach? --Barthes: Myth is a “second-order semiological system”
--Language is a system of differences with no positive terms ->There is no word that is concrete in itself ->Distinguishable only through other terms’ definition
Everything you need to know
Structuralism vs. Empiricism and Pragmatism
-Main differences
--Empirically: all words refer to things or mental images of things (no assumptions)
--Pragmatism: the use of a word is its meaning (no underlying meaning)
--Structuralism: (According to Phillips) -Language examined independently of its referents -Anything outside language can be said to be what language refers to
--Language is a structure, or a system --Any utterance can be analyzed according to the structure that underlies it --Structura: A fitting together, an adjustment, a building -Strues: A heap -Stere: To spread or stretch out
--Example: in a relationship, ask if something’s wrong and they say “nothing” --Conflicts about a language game
Saussure’s Schema of the Sign * Signifier--> “sensible” part of the verbal sign (phonemes) * Signified--> “meaning”: an interpretation added to the signifier
Sign= Signifier/signified
--Example: roses on Valentine’s Day
Synchronic v. diachronic Synchronic: A network of language Diachronic: How does language change over time
--Langue: The system of language, the system of language and how it relates to other elements, the “arrangement of interrelated elements and accounts for the way these elements relate to each other” --Parole: the individual utterance, an instantiation of the system --Is this distinction useful? What does it allow?
--Example: hashtag, LOLcats, input
-Are there any problems associated with this approach? --Barthes: Myth is a “second-order semiological system”
--Language is a system of differences with no positive terms ->There is no word that is concrete in itself ->Distinguishable only through other terms’ definition
Everything you need to know