Structuralism

Almost all literary theorist are beggining with Aristotle and and emphasized the importance of structure.

Structuralism is an umbrella term referring to multiple related twentieth-century schools of thought dealing with language as a structure, and how that structure in turn influences how humans process thoughts.

Structuralism, a theoretical framework in various fields including linguistics, anthropology, and psychology, emphasizes the importance of understanding structures underlying human experiences. Key points include analyzing language, culture, and thought as systems of interconnected elements, aiming to uncover universal structures that shape meaning and behavior. Notable figures associated with structuralism include Ferdinand de Saussure in linguistics and Claude Lévi-Strauss in anthropology.

Structuralist criticsm analyzes literature on an explicit model of structuralist linguistics. The group includes Russian Formalist like Roman Jakobson, who applied to literature the concepts and and analytical distinctions developed by Ferdinand de Saussure in his Course in General Linguistics( 1915)

Sign = Signifier + Signified

According to Sassure, Language is a system of signs. And the sign is the compilation of signifier and signified. Where Signifier is the sound image or word image that act as a finger pointing to the signified. Signified is the concept, meaning or the thing indicated by the signifier.

There is no natural relationship between these singnifier and signified. They are arbitrary in nature.

Structuralist believes in Binary Opposition. Which means words are structured in its opposition with other words. 

Dark is the absence of light 

Female, that is not male

Good, that is not bad

Diachronic and Synchronic Studies 

These are two important concept in structural linguistics. Diachronic study is the analysis of evolution of language over time. Diachronic linguists traces the history of language, its development and check it's shift in grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation over different periods. Whereas Synchronic study refers to study of language at a particular point in time without considering it's historical development. 

Syntagmatic and Paradiagmatic relationship in language. 

Syntagmatic relation is a type of semantic relationship between words that co- occure in the same sentence. Syntagmatic relationship between words in sentences are horizontal one. 

For Example. 

He is a nice guy. In this, 'he' is correlated with 'is' and then to 'a', 'nice'  'guy'. 

Paradiagmatic relationship holds the elements of sentence in vertical manner and can be substituted in another given sentence. 

Rhyming scheme of Poems are occurred through the Paradiagmatic relationship between words. 

For Example 

Tom likes mango

Reena loves roses

John hates fruits. 

Both syntagmatic and Paradiagmatic relationship operates in phoneme, words, and morpheme. 

Structuralist Activity

Those who can see the invisible, can do the impossible. 

semiotics

Semiotics concerns symbols and how humans find meaning in certain signs (which may be physically observed, written, or otherwise experienced).

Structuralist Narratology

“We are narrative creatures, and we need narrative nourishment—narrative catechisms.” 

           D Wilson 

Narrative means anything that tells a story. It may be a novel, a fictional book, a painting, a picture, a news paper, an advertisement, a movie and even a prayer. 

Narratology is a branch of linguistics which studies the narrative structure. It also has connection with other branch of studies like Stylistics. Narratology is all about stories.

According to Peter Barry, " Narratology is the study of how narratives make meaning and what are basic procedures and mechanisms in the act of story telling". 

According to Prof. Malcom Bradbury, " Narratology is the study of  poetic fiction, exploring the nature of narrative system"

The term narratologie (narratology in French) was coined by Tzvetan Todorov.

Aristotle's Poetics can be considered an early work of narratological writing. In his Poetics, Aristotle says that a plot must have a beginning, middle and an end. Then he identified three key elements in plot. They are *Hamartia *Anagnorsis and *Peripeteia

Russian Formalist, Vladimir Propp in his The Morphology of Folk Tales (1928) wrote about the system of internal organization of folktales. French Anthropologist, Claude levi strauss  talks about the set of organizational structure of fairy tales. AJ Greimas, who found six unit of structure that are present within the narrative.

One of the most important Narratologists is Gerard Genette, .

 20th Century Structuralism, generated some of the most rigorous analysis of narratives and it's forms. The most important of the structural Narratologist, Gérard Genette, who is widely discussed the way tales are united, how it is told, which is to say and the process of telling itself. He has developed narrative voice.

The voice is constituted by the following elements. 

1. Narrative Instance

This refers to the actual moment or context of the Narration, the temporal setting of the enunciation of the Narration. 

2. Narrative time

This is the time indicated by the tense(of the verb) in the narrative. 

For Eg: The Narrative may be about a future event. Where the narrative time is prophetic or in certain novels, the time of event is time of the narrative itself. Some novels narrate it has already happend. 

3. Narrative levels

 This refers to the relation of the acts narrated to the act of Narration itself. For example, a story within a story. 

Genette find outs four important levels of narrative 

1.order

2 Duration 

3.Frequnecy 

4.Mood

1.Order

The sequence of events in relation to the order of Narration. Events may have taken palce before the actual narration.  Order can be;

1.analepsis - flashback 

2.prolepsis- if may not have taken place. It is merely anticipated or predicted by the narrative. 

3.anachrony- a discrepancy between the order of events in a story and the order in which they are presented in the plot. Anachronies are either flash black or flashforward. 

4. Metalepsis

There may be a movement between one narrative level to another. 

Duration

 The rhythm at which events take places expand episodes or summarize. 

a) ellipsis - infinetly rapid narration

b) summary- relatively rapid

C) scene - relatively slow

D) description- no progress in the story

Frequency 

The extend of repetition in a narrative( how many times has an event happend in the story) 

Mood

Narrative mood is depend on the distance and perspective of the narrator. 

Astrologer's day

R. K Narayan is a extremely well liked indo- Anglican author of novels and short stories.

Astrologer's day is a short story written by R. K Narayan. The story is about an Astrologer in Malgudi

The main character presents himself as a true astrologer, but he is not. He did not study astrology and not come from an astrological family. He chooses that job inorder to escape from a dangerous circumstances in his life. 

The story begins with a realistic portrayal of astrologer's physical attributes, showing him wearing saffron coloured turban,putting sacred ash and vermillion to get the  trust of the people.

The character of astrologer is typically Indian. R. K Narayan Uses an Indian Setting to highlights human emotions. Astrologer is a representation of Indian middle class, who despite their failures and poverty are optimistic and dedicated and need to support themselves and their families. 

Word Formation. Essay. Language and Linguistic. 5th Semester. University of Calicut.

Word Formation

Word Formation is the way in which new words are formed from the root word in a language. Every language has its own structural patterns of word formation. 

Word Formation is the branch lexi ology which studies derivative structure of existing words and patterns on which a language builds new words.

A few of the major word formation methods in English are - compounding, derivation, conversion, blending, clipping, acronyms, back formation, reduplication and abbreviation. 

Compounding

In linguistics, Compounding  is an important word formation process in which two or more words are joined together to form new words. 

Examples:

Wall + Paper = Wallpaper

Home + Work = Homework

Foot + wear   = Footwear

Tea + Powder = Tea Powder

Derivation 

Derivation is another form of  word formation. The most common type of derivation is the addition of one or more affixes to the root word. 

Adding a word in front of a root word is called prefixation

Injustice

Discharge

Unhappy

Displace

Adding a word after the root word is called suffixation. 

Faithful

Cooked

Kindness

Adding words in between words is called infixation. 

mother-in-law

Conversion

Conversion is the process in which same words are used as verb and noun by converting only the class. 

Use(Noun) - To use(verb) 

Brush(Noun) - To brush(verb) 

Clipping

Clipping is the process in which new words are formed by taking a part of an existing word. For Example taking ad from Advertisement. 

Exam - Examination 

Plane - Aeroplane

Fridge - Refrigerator 

Prof - Professor 

Phone - Telephone 

Blending 

Words created by blending or merging two words are called blends. An example of a typical blend is brunch, in which the beginning of the word breakfast is joined with the ending of the word lunch. 

 Breakfast + Lunch =>  Brunch 

 Smoke + fog => Smog

 Excalator + air => Excalair 

 Motor + hotel => motel

Acronyms

Acronyms are formed by taking initial letter of a phrase and make it a new word. 

Here are a few examples of popular acronyms:

PIN = Personal Identification Number 

U.S.A = United State of America

UK = United Kingdom 

Back Formation 

In back-formation, the reverse process is applied to existing words in order to create a new word. For example, if the suffix ''-er'' is removed from the word ''teacher,'' the verb ''teach'' is created.

Televise  - Television 

Emote - Emotion 

Beg - Beggar

Housekeep - House Keeper

Escalate - Escalator

Metanalysis

The formation of a new word through a mistaken analysis of a boundary between existing words. A typical example is the word adder, derived from Middle English naddre through people mishearing the phrase a naddre as an adder.

These are major word formations in English Language. Inorder to enrich our vocabulary, we should aware about the origin of new words day by day. 

Functional Grammar and Communication in English. B. com/BBA. University of Calicut. 2022.

Functional Grammar and Communication in English. BA/Bsw. University of Calicut. 2022 Exam.

Litmosphere. The World of Literature. 2022.

Appreciating Drama. 5th Semester University of Calicut.

Function Grammar and Communication. B. Com /BBA. 2022.