The Structural Linguistics and the Late Modern Social Theory - Assignment Example

Influence of The Structural Linguistics on the Late Modern Social theory Influence of The Structural Linguistics on the Late Modern Social theory Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913) was a Swiss linguistic. He is considered the father of linguistics whose studies and theories helped in many important developments in semiology and linguistics. He is the one of two father of the 20th century of linguistics with Charles Sanders Peirce). According to the great linguistic Ferdinand de Saussure, language is no longer considered as unimportant in the world we live in; linguistics is the centre of the world. The shortest definition for linguistics can be ‘it is the study of signs’ (Saussure 2013). Ferdinand de Saussure is not only the founder of linguistics but also the founder of semiotics or semiology. Semiotics started becoming a major and advanced approach to the cultural studies in the late 1960s. The modern and revolutionary feature of linguistics is insistence on the systems of relations. Saussure’s theories and ideas are remarkable as the formal plan by which the whole system or series is dependent by either painting or physics is explained. Semiotics is often divided into several branches or parts (Saussure 2013). • Semantics: It is the study of the relation with the signs and the effects of which they rely on their meaning. • Syntactic: It is the study of the relation between formal structures with the signs. • Pragmatics: It is the study of sign using agents and signs itself. Semiotics is often observed as having a significant role in the dimensions of anthropological. Logical dimensions of linguistics are often focused by some of the linguistics. Linguistic examine areas that belong to the life sciences like how the predictions are made by organisms, how organism adapt (Saussure 2013). Syntactic is one of the main branches of semiotics (Saussure 2013). The syntactic deals with the formal structure of signs and symbols as mentioned above (Saussure 2013). More correctly and accurately syntactic deals with those rules that administer how the mixture of words is combined in forming a sentence or expression (Saussure 2013). Pragmatics deals with the biological features of semiosis. It is the study of biological and psychological fact that occurs in operation of signs (Saussure 2013). The very first principle presented by Ferdinand de Saussure is the study of the relationship between the signifier and signified is arbitrary. The term ‘arbitrary’ he pointed out is that it should not simply involve that the choice is left only on the speaker or spokesman. Instead, it means that the signifier-signified bond is unenthusiastic and unmotivated. There is no accepted connection or any reason that a particular sound or image is linked with a concept (Saussure 2013). Basics Assumptions of Semiotics Modern theories on semiotics have merged the theories of both linguistics Ferdinand de Saussure and Charles Sanders Peirce in many differences and discrepancies. The major assumptions in the modern theories are discussed below: Language is basic of any culture and cultures are shaped with language (Saussure 2013). A language is never personal or private it is the language of people and society. Anyone using a private or personal language would be apathetic and uninterested to the rest of the members of society and also to the world. Language should be understood by everyone in the world (Saussure 2013). Common language users or speakers shape what is known as a speech community. Speech is widely used as the most common context, which includes a wide range of communication communities such as ethnic groups, caste, and social class specific group of people, etc. By practicing same language different people can participate and share their ideas and suggestions in multiple communities (Saussure 2013). In the language, multiple structures are used and levelled from the word sounds, vocabulary, and sentences to longer element that is called communication or discourse. Language is a system that uses and rules its internal structure. Communication moves and circulates from side to side to a culture, on condition that provides meanings, principles, and community characteristics to a person or individual (Saussure 2013). Dialogues or discourse is one of the levels, which are studied by many cultural theories and semiotics. Our cultural speeches whether major and minor all studies can be referred as discourse. Emerging new cultural forms, culture genres, etc. all the studies are the part of the discourse (Saussure 2013). Mediation is the assembling of communication and meaning, symbolic or representative that stand for belongings, sense, and principle for instance, the words in verbal communication, metaphors, images, sound, noise, or other detectable signifiers. A copy of reality is never presented by sign or the systems of signs (Saussure 2013). The structural linguistics is based on ‘sign’ having two components - a signified and a signifier. The former word (Signified) denotes an idea or a theme, while the later word (Signifier) depicts the means by which the former is described, in other words, the Signifier depicts the Signified. Therefore, sign must be the depiction of signified and the signifier in a linked and a correlated way. The structuralist theories focus on distinct material structures. Its origin is rooted in the work of Saussurean Linguistics and on structuralist themes that arise from A Course in General Linguistics (1916). During the whole 20th century, these structuralists’ thoughts remained dominant in academic circles and pervaded deeply have affected several socio-lingual disciplines of thought including Philosophy, humanism, and various social scientific. The ‘linguistic turn’ depicts the shift from ‘object’ humanistic and philosophic disciplines to the ‘processes’ behind it. This shift encompasses language through which knowledge and reality comprise. Linguistic turn is illustrated by two basic assumptions. First, reality is constructed through language and secondly, meaning is the property of relations. These phenomena are vividly expressed in western philosophical literature much before the recognition of social constructivism (Carter, 2013). There are five major important aspect cantered to structuralism • ‘The sign’ as the central dogma • Bi-planarity i.e., the meaning is separate from ‘morph’. • Self- containment i.e., not dependent on the structural system • Finite structure i.e., structure can be identified • Supra-individuality i.e., individual does not affect system From a structural point of view, the sign in a society depicts a specialized meaning, which indicates to social or cultural vehicle for signification. Languages and Music are considered systems because they are communicated or instilled through particular set of rule already designed. The member of the whole society holds such rules and designs. De Saussure described two models to illustrate his theory. In Dyadic model, the signifier and the signified describe the sign. In this case, the sign vehicle will be materialistic which may voice, music, any other sound or visual source information, while the signified represents an abstract content within that vehicle. Charles Sander Peirce developed triadic Model; he conceived different terms to denote signs, which, according to him, was a conceptual process. He argued that the concepts (he called them unlimited semiosis) are in a continuous process, where new ones replace the previous meanings. French semiotics identifies two main component of sign function. The signifier i.e., which denotes the way of expression, e.g., the speech or visual information and the signified i.e., the real meaning of the content which is correlated with the signifier. The language forms the links between the two. The concept of code describes the relation of a symbol with a meaning or some content. It is through this code that gives the unit of signs a social meaning. However, it should be noted that the relation between the signifier and the signified is not naturally but developed as internal rules. Sign systems are organized into differences that are just differential values to some meanings. These are driven by ideologies that are a large set of socially constructed meanings. Signification is conceived as a process or a social event for all the member of society which acts as decoders. The encoding and decoding involve signification. The status of the decoder is determined by the system itself. However, the ability and tendency of decoding and identification of signification is based on ‘competence’ of the ‘receiver’. In the contemporary world, the concept of semiotics is not restricted to language. It is stretched to all meaning system existing in a society. Advertisement, TV, movie, politics, social events, fashion and entertainment industry every realm of today’s the world involves exposition semiotics. Semiotic analysis is, however, criticizes for ignoring the quality of work. It is because most of the time semiotics focuses on the elements and the meaning of the concept in a text, i.e., it does not put enough light on the quality parameters. It also means that the semiotic perspective does not really concern with the art itself; rather it focuses on how it is depicted. The structural linguistics is based on concepts of Saussurean theory, which remained a dominant idea throughout the twentieth century. It revolved around the concept of signs and the relation of the signifier and the signified. The linguistics’ sign, according to Saussure, is a result of association of sensory vehicle and a mental concept. The concept of structural linguistic has been deepened within the modern world, where many realms of social life is flooded with ‘signs’; fashion industry being the most extensive in its uses of ‘sign’ and ‘signification’. However, sometimes, the semiotic become too obsessive with its concepts so that it put the actual art behind in the shadows, while highlighting the signs that are depicted. List of References Carter, P.M., 2013. Poststructuralist Theory and Sociolinguistics: Mapping the Linguistic Turn in Social Theory. Language and Linguistics Compass, 7(11), pp.580-96. Saussure, F.D., 2013. Course in General Linguistics. illustrated ed. New York City: Columbia University Press. Read More