Structuralism马行天Whatis?Structureisrulesandprinciplesoperationintheworld,orwecansay,theworldiscomposedofmanydifferentelements,eachofwhichhasitsownfunction,arecloselyboundupwitheachotherinsortofapatternorstructure.Whatis?Structuralismisawayofthinkingthatworkstofindthefundamentalbasicunitsorelementsofwhichanythingismade.Structuralismisanapproachtothehumansciencethatattemptstoanalyzeaspecificfieldasacomplexsystemofinterrelatedparts.Fields:anthropology,linguistics,mathematics,andliteraryandculturalcriticism.Structuralistsareinterestedinfindingthebasicelements------.Theunitsmakeupanysystem.Therulesthatgovernhowthoseunitscanbecombined.Theinterrelationshipofunitsandrules.StructuralistnotiononunitsandrulesStructuralistsbelievethattheunderlyingstructureswhichorganizeunitsandrulesintomeaningfulsystemsaregeneratedbythehumanminditself,andnotbysenseperception.Theminditselfactsasastructuringmechanismwhichlooksatunitsandfilesthemaccordingtorules.Structuralismseesitselfasa'science'ofhumankind.Andittriestouncoverallthestructuresthatunderlieallthethingsabouthumans.InthefieldofliteratureAstructuralistviewofaliterarytextwouldstartbyaskingwhatarethemostbasicunitsofatext.PincessPrinceStepmotherCinderellaThe“units”arethestockcharacters.The“rules”arethatstepmothersarecruel,princessesarevictims,andprincesandprincesseshavetomarry.SnowWhiteInthefieldofLinguisticsLinguisticswasoneofthefirstdisciplinestoadoptastructuralistperspective,becausetheoperationsofanylanguagefitwellintoastructuralistframework.FerdinanddeSaussurewastheoriginatorofthe20thcenturystructuralism.CourseisGeneralLinguisticsThebasic“atom”oflanguageistheword.Althoughdifferentlanguagehavedifferentgrammarrules,thestructureoflanguageisthesameeverywhere:wordsareputtogetherwithinagrammaticalsystemtomakemeaning.StructuralistanalysispositsthesesystemsasThestructuresorelementsthatarecommontoallcultures,atalltimes,inallareasoftheworld.Everyhumanmindineverycultureateverypointinhistoryhasusedsomesortofstructuringprincipletoorganizeandunderstandculturalphenomena.Everyhumanculturesimilarlyhassomesortofsocialorganization.LimitationsIthasobviouslimitationstoreduceallstoriestosomebasicbare-bonesstructures.VladimirPropp(Russian)triedtofindthe“atoms”ofmythandliteraturebyidentifyingthecorecomponentsallmythhadincommon.31functions7charactersInmypointofview,theuseofProppiananalysisrevealsthatfairytalesdoshareseveralsimilaritiesasfarasbasicplotelements.However,attemptedProppiananalysisofseveraltalesrevealthathisclaimofauniformplotprogressiondoesnothold.Propp'sanalysisalsofailstorecognizetheimportanceofsuchstorycomponentsastone,mood,characterization,andwritingstyle.Sothismaynotseemlikeaveryproductiveorusefulwaytoanalyzeliterature.Thankyouforyourattention!