Language as a structured system of differences

Priority of synchronic analysis (system at a given time) over diachronic history

Cultural practices as rule-governed systems (myths, kinship)

Deep structures organizing social meaning

Cultural artifacts as sign systems (fashion, images, narratives)

Signifier: the form (sound/image/word)

Signified: the concept invoked

Sign: the relation between signifier and signified

No natural bond between word and meaning

Meaning depends on convention within a language system

Words mean what they mean by not being other words

Meaning emerges from contrasts and positions in the system

Langue: underlying rules and structure of language

Parole: individual utterances or performances

Structuralism prioritizes langue (system) to explain parole (instances)

Meaning organized through paired contrasts (e.g., nature/culture, raw/cooked)

Analysis asks how texts rely on, reinforce, or complicate these oppositions

Structures are sets of relations and constraints

Rules can be implicit, learned, and culturally shared

Syntagmatic: combination in sequence (grammar, narrative order)

Paradigmatic: substitution sets (choices among alternatives)

Interpretation examines how combinations and substitutions create meaning

Surface: observable text features

Deep: abstract patterns organizing those features

Recurring plot functions and roles

Common story grammars and genre conventions

Roles defined by relations (helper, opponent, sender, receiver, subject, object)

Characters as positions in a system, not psychological individuals

Repeated motifs and transformations across versions

Myths treated as systems of relations among elements

Genres provide rules for expectations and meaning-making

Individual works are instances of a genre’s structural constraints

Texts gain meaning through relations to other texts and codes

Cultural codes shape what seems “natural” or “readable”

Sounds and forms organized by contrasts and rules

Grammatical meaning from position and relation (e.g., tense, case, agreement)

Word meanings mapped within domains (e.g., kinship terms)

Hyponymy, synonymy, antonymy as structured relations

Shared cultural-linguistic codes enable interpretation

Meaning depends on competence in the system

Choose the relevant domain (language, genre, myth system, cultural code)

Identify the “rules” assumed by participants/readers

Linguistic units (phonemes, morphemes, syntactic patterns)

Narrative units (events, functions, scenes, motifs)

Symbolic units (images, themes, oppositions)

Identify binary oppositions and their distribution

Track syntagmatic chains (sequence) and paradigmatic options (substitutions)

Note repetitions, parallels, and structural symmetries

Reconstruct the implicit system that generates the text’s meaning

Explain how elements derive meaning from positions in the structure

Look for invariants across versions, genres, or cultures

Analyze transformations that preserve core relations

Explaining how a novel follows or breaks genre rules

Identifying narrative functions and oppositions organizing plot meaning

Showing how variations of a myth transform elements while preserving relations

Interpreting cultural contradictions mediated by mythic structure

Reading advertisements, fashion, media as systems of signs

Revealing “naturalized” meanings as coded conventions

Systems, rules, and relations

Shared conventions enabling intelligibility

Pattern, structure, and formal constraints

Authorial intention and individual genius

Unique historical events as primary explanations

Purely subjective interpretation detached from codes

Instability of meaning and signification

Focus on contradictions, slippages, and power in discourse