Understanding Jonathan Culler's The Linguistic Foundation

Using a structuralist approach, Culler makes a comparison of the way language operates with the rules and conventions that make up human culture, and shows that the distinction between rule and behavior is crucial to any study concerned with the production or communication of meaning (56-58). He states that, the “notion that linguistics might be useful in studying other cultural phenomena is based on two fundamental insights: first, that social and cultural phenomena are not simply material objects or events but objects or event with meaning, and hence signs; and second, that they do not have essences but are defined by a network of relations, both internal and external” (56). Thus, it is obvious that there is a correlation between the two and that a structuralist account is pertinent to showing this analogy.

“The cultural meaning of any particular act or object is determined by a whole system of constitutive rules: rules which do not regulate behavior so much as create the possibility of particular forms of behavior” such as obeying the rules or not (56). For learning a language (English in this case), it means mastering “a system of rules and norms which make it possible to produce and understand utterances” (57). For both language and the conventions of human behavior, rules create the possibility of expressing various meanings through different forms of behavior and utterances or by choosing to comply with such rules or not. Choosing not to obey Check it out ” is expression of meaning in itself, such as displaying one’s attitude towards authority or established conventions. This points out that in order to be able to "break the rules" we must at first know them. When a rule is broken, it becomes more obvious. Rules that are followed are inconspicuous, and we become complacent toward the norms.

A broken rule is a thing in itself, an action or event. Interestingly enough, breaking rules on a regular basis also can follow a system or a structure, as one can see through ebonics, for example, or the study and research of AAVE. When breaking a rule becomes habit, it establishes its own rule and becomes a convention in itself by the social contract of the rule breakers. The essence of structuralism as an intellectual movement and theoretical approach to literary analysis lies in the notion that (written or otherwise) concepts, things, and etc. cannot be understood in isolation. Sometimes, structuralists also interpret literature in terms of a range of underlying parallels with the structures of language, as described by modern linguistics (as Culler has done in the aforementioned essay). See results Works Cited. Culler, Jonathan. “The Linguistic Foundation” Literary Anthology: An Anthology, Second Edition. Julie Rivkin and Michael Ryan, Malden, MA:Blackwell Publishing. Barry, Peter. "Structuralism." Beginning theory: an introduction to literary and cultural theory. 3rd ed. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press ;, 2009. . Sign in or sign up and post using a HubPages Network account. 0 of 8192 characters usedPost CommentNo HTML is allowed in comments, but URLs will be hyperlinked. Comments are not for promoting your articles or other sites. This post was done with Essay Writers!

Write about a time when anger caused you to behave in a way that you later regretted. 52. Authority is when someone has the power to make decisions for you. Write about a time when you wanted to challenge someone’s authority. What were they doing to cause you to feel this way? How did you handle the situation? 53. Everybody has had someone awkward moments in life. Write about a time when you felt embarrassed. How did you deal with your embarrassment? 54. The process of growing up is a slow one. It takes your whole childhood. But some events cause us to grow quicker than others. Write about an experience that caused you to grow up quickly. 55. You can’t give everyone everything that they want. That would leave nothing for you. You have to set limits. Write about a time when someone wanted more from you than you had to give.

56. Your conscience is that little voice in your head that tells you when you are doing something wrong. Write about a time when your conscience stopped you from doing something. 57. Friendship can be found in unexpected places. Write about a time when you became friends or partners with an unlikely person. 58. It’s important to be persistent, but you have to know when to let go too. Write about a time when you quit pursuing something or let go of a dream. 59. Anyone can talk. Followsing through is the hard part. Write about a time when you proved yourself with your actions. 60. We are all tempted to do things that we shouldn’t at times. It takes integrity to do the right thing against your baser desires. Write about a time when you resisted the temptation to do something wrong. 61. Tact is the ability to phrase criticism in a sensitive way.