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    Klaas Willems (Gent) : European Structuralism European Structuralism

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    Nihad Kebir
    1) European structuralism was a linguistic paradigm developed by prominent European linguists between World Wars 1 and 2 and the first decades after World War 2 that rejected the atomism of 19th century linguistics. 2) Ferdinand de Saussure is generally considered the originator of structuralism, though he did not use the term himself. Several aspects differed from his ideas in the Cours de linguistique générale. 3) Core beliefs of European structuralists included studying languages as sign systems based on paradigmatic and syntagmatic relations, prioritizing synchronic over diachronic analysis, considering meaning an inherent part of language rather than reducible to external factors, and viewing

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    Klaas Willems (Gent) : European Structuralism European Structuralism

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    Nihad Kebir
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    1) European structuralism was a linguistic paradigm developed by prominent European linguists between World Wars 1 and 2 and the first decades after World War 2 that rejected the atomism of 19th century linguistics. 2) Ferdinand de Saussure is generally considered the originator of structuralism, though he did not use the term himself. Several aspects differed from his ideas in the Cours de linguistique générale. 3) Core beliefs of European structuralists included studying languages as sign systems based on paradigmatic and syntagmatic relations, prioritizing synchronic over diachronic analysis, considering meaning an inherent part of language rather than reducible to external factors, and viewing

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    1) European structuralism was a linguistic paradigm developed by prominent European linguists between World Wars 1 and 2 and the first decades after World War 2 that rejected the atomism of 19th century linguistics. 2) Ferdinand de Saussure is generally considered the originator of structuralism, though he did not use the term himself. Several aspects differed from his ideas in the Cours de linguistique générale. 3) Core beliefs of European structuralists included studying languages as sign systems based on paradigmatic and syntagmatic relations, prioritizing synchronic over diachronic analysis, considering meaning an inherent part of language rather than reducible to external factors, and viewing

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    49 views2 pages

    Klaas Willems (Gent) : European Structuralism European Structuralism

    Uploaded by

    Nihad Kebir
    1) European structuralism was a linguistic paradigm developed by prominent European linguists between World Wars 1 and 2 and the first decades after World War 2 that rejected the atomism of 19th century linguistics. 2) Ferdinand de Saussure is generally considered the originator of structuralism, though he did not use the term himself. Several aspects differed from his ideas in the Cours de linguistique générale. 3) Core beliefs of European structuralists included studying languages as sign systems based on paradigmatic and syntagmatic relations, prioritizing synchronic over diachronic analysis, considering meaning an inherent part of language rather than reducible to external factors, and viewing

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    Wörterbücher zur Sprach- und Kommunikationswissenschaft (WSK) Online

    Ed. by Schierholz, Stefan J. / Wiegand, Herbert Ernst


    Berlin/New York: De Gruyter (2013–
    (2013 )

    Vol. 11: Theories and Methods in Linguistics Editor: Bernd Kortmann

    Klaas Willems (Gent)


    DOI: 10.1515/wsk.35.0.europeanstructuralism

    European structuralism
    paradigm for the study of language developed by prominent European linguists during
    the inter-war
    war period and the first decades after World War II that radically rejected the
    prevailing atomism of 19th century (particularly neo
    neo-grammarian)
    grammarian) linguistics and
    language psychology.
    europäischer Strukturalismus
    rukturalismus: linguistisches Paradigma, das in der Zwischenkriegszeit
    und den ersten Jahrzehnten nach dem 2. Weltkrieg von prominenten europäischen
    Linguisten entwickelt wurde und eine radikale Absage an den Atomismus der
    (insbesondere junggrammatischen) Sprachwissenschaft
    Sprachwissenschaft und Sprachpsychologie im 19.
    Jh. darstellte.

    F. de Saussure is generally acknowledged to have been the originator of the


    structuralist approach, although he never used the term structuralism and several
    aspects of the paradigm differ considerably
    considerably from Saussurean thought. It was R.
    Jakobson who coined the term in 1929, referring to an emerging method in linguistics,
    literary studies, psychology, sociology, and anthropology. Moreover, although the
    European structuralists were deeply influenced
    influenced by the theory of language in Saussure’s
    Cours de linguistique générale (1916), it cannot be said that they all agreed on a well-
    well
    delimited set of common principles or a single framework. There were several, partly
    differing structuralist movements, of which
    wh the Prague (Mathesius, Havránek,
    Havránek
    Trubetzkoy, Jakobson)) and Copenhagen Circle (Hjelmslev,
    ( Uldall, Brøndal,
    Brøndal Togeby,
    Fischer-Jørgensen), ), the Suisse (Bally,
    ( Sechehaye), British (Jones, Firth,
    Firth Lyons,
    Halliday), and Russian (Šaumjan
    Šaumjan, Mel’čuk, Apresjan) ‘Schools’,
    ols’, and several linguists
    of different nationalities (Kuryłowicz
    Kuryłowicz, Malmberg, Coseriu, Benveniste,
    Benveniste Martinet,
    Fourquet, Tesnière, Guillaume, Alarcos Llorach) are the best-known representatives.
    In general terms, European structuralist linguists share the following core beliefs: 1)
    languages should be studied as systems of linguistic signs for which the paradigmatic
    and syntagmatic relations between the units constitute the basis; 2) languages should
    first be studied from a synchronic point of view, not a diachronic one, since the latter
    is dependent on the former; 3) many structuralists (but not, for example, Martinet)
    stress the autonomy of the language system vis-à-vis sociological, psychological and
    pragmatic factors, which are considered to be ‘external’; 4) meaning is considered to
    be an inherent aspect of the language system, not reducible to external factors such as
    reference and psychology; moreover, meaning can be analysed with the methodology
    developed for phonology; 5) from the vantage point of linguistics, language is not a
    substance but rather a ‘form’, and it should therefore not be studied with the
    methodology of the natural sciences but by means of new methods appropriate to the
    requirements of the structuralist object of study.
    With respect to points 4 and 5, in particular, European structuralism differs
    radically from American structuralism. It should be noted, however, that many
    European structuralists have tried to overcome the limitations of an overly rigidly
    defined structuralist programme after World War II. Thus structuralism gradually
    became an implicit framework even in more recent generative, pragmatic, typological
    and cognitive linguistic research, in which structural concepts are progressively being
    reinterpreted and occasionally redefined. The impact of European structuralism on
    modern linguistics and research in the humanities, in general, has been profound.
    Many structuralist concepts have become part of the basic vocabulary of modern
    linguistics, including the twofold nature of linguistic signs, the importance of
    structural relations and oppositions on the levels of expression and content, the
    variation of expression and meaning units in context, the methodological distinctions
    between synchrony and diachrony, system and discourse, arbitrariness and motivation.

    Literature
    ALBRECHT, J. [2000] Europäischer Strukturalismus. 2nd ed. Tübingen [etc.]
    COSERIU, E. [1988] Einführung in die allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft. Tübingen [etc.]
    VAN DE WALLE, J./ WILLEMS, D./ WILLEMS, K. [2006] Structuralism. In: Verschueren, J./
    Östman, J.-O. (eds.) Handbook of pragmatics. Amsterdam [etc.]: 1-36

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