Structuralism

Jürgen Van de Walle, Dominique WillemsKlaas Willems
Table of contents

Given the wide range of meanings which the term ‘structuralism’ received in the course of the 20th century, a clear-cut definition of linguistic structuralism is problematical. Strictly speaking, it refers to a set of general principles shared by prominent European linguists of the inter-war period who were all deeply influenced by Ferdinand de Saussure’s Cours de linguistique générale (Saussure 1995[1916], hereafter CLG). However, it is also customary to refer to American linguistics as practised from the 1930s through the 1950s as ‘structural’, although its theoretical and methodological principles were considerably different from ‘European structuralism’ and Saussure’s influence rather limited. Moreover, several European post-war schools and movements (cf. § 4) are generally seen as falling within the purview of ‘structuralism’ as well. Although they differed in various important methodological issues, they have in common that, contrary to American structuralism, they were all deeply influenced by the CLG (cf. § 3).

Full-text access is restricted to subscribers. Log in to obtain additional credentials. For subscription information see Subscription & Price.

References

Albrecht, J.
2000Europäischer Strukturalismus (2nd edition). Francke.Google Scholar
Apresjan, J.D.
1973a[1966]Éléments sur les idées et les méthodes en linguistique structurale. Dunod. [Translated from the Russian original by J.P. De Wrangel, idei i metody sovremennoi strukturnoi lingvistiki, Prosvescenie.]Google Scholar
1973bA description of semantics by means of syntax. Linguistics 96: 6–32.Google Scholar
Barthes, R.
1964Essais critiques. Seuil.Google Scholar
Benveniste, E.
1939Nature du signe linguistique. Acta Linguistica 1: 23–29.Google Scholar
1962Structure en linguistique. In R. Bastide (ed.) Sens et usage du terme ‘structure’ dans les sciences humaines et sociales: 31–39. Mouton.Google Scholar
1966Problèmes de linguistique générale. Gallimard.  BoPGoogle Scholar
Bloomfield, L.
1933Language. Holt, Rinehart and Winston.  BoPGoogle Scholar
1939Linguistic Aspects of Science. University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Boas, F.
1911Introduction. In F. Boas (ed.) Handbook of American Indian Languages, vol. 1, Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 40: 5–83. Bureau of American Ethnology.  BoPGoogle Scholar
Bolinger, D.
1964The Atomization of Meaning. Language 41: 555–573. DOI logo  BoPGoogle Scholar
Bouquet, S.
(ed.) 2003Ferdinand de Saussure. L’Herne.Google Scholar
Chiss, J.-L. & C. Puech
1997Fondations de la linguistique. Etudes d’histoire et d’épistémologie (2nd edition). Duculot.Google Scholar
Christmann, H.H.
1958–1961Strukturelle Sprachwissenschaft I/II. Romanistisches Jahrbuch 9: 17–40; 12: 23–50. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Coseriu, E.
1952Sistema, norma y habla. Revista de la Faculdad de Humanidades y Ciencias (Montevideo) 9: 113–181. [Reprinted in E. Coseriu (1962) Teorìa del lenguaje y lingüìstica general. Cinco estudios: 11–113. Gredos.]Google Scholar
1954Forma y sustancia en los sonidos del lenguaje. Revista de la Faculdad de Humanidades y Ciencias (Montevideo) 12: 143–217. [Reprinted in E. Coseriu (1962) Teorìa del lenguaje y lingüìstica general. Cinco estudios: 115–234. Gredos.]Google Scholar
1964Pour une sémantique diachronique structurale. Travaux de Linguistique et de Littérature 2(1): 139–186.Google Scholar
1967L’arbitraire du signe. Zur Spätgeschichte eines aristotelischen Begriffes. Archiv für das Studium der neueren Sprachen und Literaturen 204: 81–112.Google Scholar
1976Das romanische Verbalsystem. Narr.Google Scholar
1985‘Linguistic competence: What is it really?’ The Presidential Address of the Modern Humanities Research Association read at University College, London, on 11 January 1985. The Modern Language Review 80(4): 25–35. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1987Formen und Funktionen. Studien zur Grammatik. Niemeyer.Google Scholar
1992Einführung in die Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft (2nd edition). Francke.Google Scholar
1994Textlinguistik. Eine Einführung (3rd edition). Francke.Google Scholar
2000Structural Semantics and “Cognitive” Semantics. Logos and Language 1(1): 19–42.Google Scholar
2001L’homme et son langage. Peeters.Google Scholar
Coseriu, E. & H. Geckeler
1974Linguistics and Semantics. In T. Sebeok (ed.) Linguistics and Adjacent Arts and Sciences, vol. 12, Current trends in Linguistics: 104–171. Mouton.Google Scholar
De Mauro, T.
(1995) [1967] ‘Notes’ to Cours de linguistique générale published by C. Bally, A. Sechehaye & A. Riedlinger. Edition with introduction and notes by T. De Mauro (3rd edition): 405–495. Payot. DOI logo
Dosse, F.
1991Histoire du structuralisme 1: Le champ du signe, 1945–1966. La Découverte.Google Scholar
1992Histoire du structuralisme 2: Le chant du cygne, 1967 à nos jours. La Découverte.Google Scholar
Ducrot, O.
1968Qu’est-ce-que le structuralisme?, vol. 1. Seuil.Google Scholar
Falk, J.S.
1995Roman Jakobson and the History of Saussurean Concepts in North American Linguistics. Historiographia Linguistica 22(3): 335–367. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Engler, R.
1966Remarque sur Saussure, son système et sa terminologie. Cahiers Ferdinand de Saussure 22: 5–66.Google Scholar
Fehr, J.
1997Ferdinand de Saussure.Linguistik und Semiologie: Notizen aus dem Nachlass, Texte, Briefe und Dokumente (collected and translated by J. Fehr). Suhrkamp.Google Scholar
Fillmore, C.
2003Valency and Semantic Roles: the Concept of Deep Structure Case. In V. Ágel et al. (eds.) Dependenz und Valenz/Dependency and Valency: 457–475. Walter de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Firth, J.R.
1957Papers in Linguistics 1934–1951. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Gadet, F
1989Saussure and Contemporary Culture. Hutchinson Radius.Google Scholar
Geckeler, H.
(1982) [1971] Strukturelle Semantik und Wortfeldtheorie (3rd edition). W. Fink.Google Scholar
(ed.) 1978Strukturelle Bedeutungslehre. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft.Google Scholar
Goddard, C.
(2005) [1995] Componential Analysis. In J. Verschueren et al. (eds.) Handbook of Pragmatics. John Benjamins. DOI logo  BoPGoogle Scholar
Godel, R.
1957Les Sources manuscrites du Cours de linguistique générale de Ferdinand de Saussure. Droz.Google Scholar
Greimas, A.J.
1963Analyse du contenu: comment définir les indéfinis. Etudes de linguistique appliquée 2: 110–125.Google Scholar
1966Sémantique structurale. Larousse.Google Scholar
Harris, R.
1997Jakobson’s Saussure. Acta Linguistica Hafniensia 29, Proceedings of The Roman Jakobson Centennial Symposium , Copenhagen, 10–12 October 1996: 75–88. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2000Ferdinand de Saussure. In J. Verschueren et al. (eds.) Handbook of Pragmatics. John Benjamins. DOI logo  BoPGoogle Scholar
Harris, W.
1992Structuralism. In W. Harris Dictionary of Concepts in Literary Criticism and Theory: 378–387. Greenwood Press.Google Scholar
Harris, Z.S.
1951Methods in Structural Linguistics. University of Chicago Press. [Reprinted 1960 as Structural Linguistics.]Google Scholar
1952Discourse Analysis. Language 28: 1–30. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1957Co-occurrence and transformation in linguistic structure. Language 33: 283–340. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Haugen, E.
1951Directions in Modern Linguistics. Language 27: 211–222. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hjelmslev, L.
1928Principes de grammaire générale. Bianco Lunos.Google Scholar
1933Structure générale des corrélations linguistiques. In L. Hjelmslev 1973.: 57–98.Google Scholar
1935La catégorie des cas. étude de grammaire générale. Acta Jutlandica 7: 1–184.Google Scholar
1937aLa catégorie des cas. étude de grammaire générale, vol. 2. Acta Jutlandica 9: 1–78.Google Scholar
1937bOn the Principles of Phonematics. Proceedings of the Second International Congress of Phonetic Sciences . In L. Hjelmslev 1971: 157–162.Google Scholar
1938aEssai d’une théorie des morphèmes. In L. Hjelmslev 1971: 161–173.Google Scholar
1938bNeue Wege der Experimentalphonetik. Nordisk tiddskrift fot tale og stemme 2: 153–194.Google Scholar
1939aLa structure morphologique. In L. Hjelmslev 1971: 122–147. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1939bLa notion de rection. In L. Hjelmslev 1971: 148–160. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1939cNotes sur les oppositions supprimables. In L. Hjelmslev 1971.: 90–96. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1943Langue et parole. In L. Hjelmslev 1971: 77–89.Google Scholar
1947Structural Analysis of Language. Studia linguistica 1: 69–78. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1957Pour une sémantique structurale. In L. Hjelmslev 1971.: 105–121.Google Scholar
(1961)[1943] Prolegomena to a theory of language (2nd revised English edition). The University of Wisconsin Press. [Translated from the Danish original by F. Whitfield, Omkring sprogteoriens grundlaeggelse, Ejnar Munksgaard.]Google Scholar
1971Essais linguistiques (2nd edition). Éditions de Minuit.Google Scholar
(1972) [1934] Sprogsystem og sprogforandring. Travaux du Cercle Linguistique de Copenhague 15. Nordisk Sprog- og Kulturforlag.Google Scholar
1973Essais linguistiques II. Travaux du Cercle Linguistique de Copenhague 14. Nordisk Sprog- og Kulturforlag.Google Scholar
1975Résumé of a Theory of Language. Travaux du Cercle linguistique de Copenhague 26. Nordisk Sprog- og Kulturforlag.Google Scholar
Jäger, L.
2003aWissenschaft der Sprache. Einleitender Kommentar zu den Notizen aus dem Gartenhaus. In F. De Saussure Wissenschaft der Sprache. Neue Texte aus dem Nachlass: 11–55. Suhrkamp.Google Scholar
2003bLa pensée épistémologique de Ferdinand de Saussure. In S. Bouquet (ed.): 202–219.Google Scholar
Jakobson, R.
1928The Concept of the Sound Law and the Teleological Criterion. In R. Jakobson Selected Writings, vol. 1, Phonological Studies: 1–2. Mouton.Google Scholar
1929Remarques sur l’évolution phonologique du russe comparée à celle des autres langues slaves. Travaux du Cercle linguistique de Prague 2. Cercle Linguistique de Prague.Google Scholar
1932Zur Struktur der russischen Verbums. In R. Jakobson Selected Writings, vol. 2, Word and Language: 3–15. Mouton.Google Scholar
1936Beitrag zur allgemeinen Kasuslehre (Gesamtbedeutungen der russischen Kasus). In R. Jakobson Selected Writings, vol. 2, Word and Language: 23–71. Mouton.  BoPGoogle Scholar
1956Two Aspects of Language and Two Types of Aphasic Disturbances. In R. Jakobson & M. Halle (eds.) Fundamentals of Language, Part II: 69–96. Mouton. [4th edition 1980.]  BoPGoogle Scholar
1960Closing Statement: Linguistics and Poetics. In T.A. Sebeok (ed.) Style in Language: 350–377. Wiley.Google Scholar
1963Efforts towards a Means-Ends Model of Language in Interwar Continental Linguistics. In R. Jakobson Selected Writings, vol. 2, Word and Language: 522–526. Mouton.Google Scholar
Jakobson, R
1966Quest for the Essence of Language. In R. Jakobson Selected Writings, vol. 2, Word and Language: 345–359. Mouton.  BoPGoogle Scholar
Jakobson, R.
(1968)[1941] Child Language, Aphasia, and Language Universals. Mouton. [Translated from the German original by A. Keller.]Google Scholar
1968Language in Relation to other Communication Systems. In R. Jakobson Selected Writings, vol. 2, Word and Language: 697–708. Mouton.  BoPGoogle Scholar
Jakobson, R
1971Retrospect. In R. Jakobson Selected Writings, vol. 2, Word and Language: 711–722. Mouton.  BoPGoogle Scholar
Jakobson, R.
(1988)[1942] La théorie saussurienne en rétrospection. In R. Jakobson Selected Writings, vol. 8, Completion Volume One: 391–435. Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Joseph, J.E.
1997The ‘Language Myth’ Myth; or, Roy Harris’s Red Herrings. In N. Love & G. Wolf (eds.) Linguistics Inside Out: Roy Harris and his Critics: 9–41. John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2002From Whitney to Saussure. Essays in the history of American linguistics. John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Katz, J.J. & J.A. Fodor
1963The Structure of a Semantic Theory. Language 39: 170–210. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Koerner, E.F.K.
1973Ferdinand de Saussure. Origin and development of his linguistic thought in Western studies of language. Braunschweig.Google Scholar
1997On the Linguistic Sources of Roman Jakobson’s Work. In F. Gadet & P. Sériot (eds.) Jakobson entre l’Est et l’Ouest, 1915–1939: Un épisode de l’histoire de la culture européenne : 159–176. Institut de Linguistique et des Sciences du Langage, Université de Lausanne.Google Scholar
2002Toward a History of American Linguistics. Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lepschy, G.C.
1966La linguistica strutturale. Einaudi.Google Scholar
Lévi-Strauss, C.
1949Les structures élémentaires de la parenté. PUF.Google Scholar
1958Anthropologie structurale. Plon.Google Scholar
1964Mythologiques, vol. 1, Le Cru et le Cuit. Plon.Google Scholar
1966Mythologiques, vol. 2, Du miel aux cendres. Plon.Google Scholar
Longacre, R.E.
1983The grammar of discourse. Plenum.Google Scholar
Mackay, D.M.
1969Information, Mechanism and Meaning. MIT Press.Google Scholar
Martinet, A.
1955Économie des changements phonétiques. Traité de phonologie diachronique. A. Francke.Google Scholar
1960Éléments de linguistique générale. Armand Colin.  BoPGoogle Scholar
1975Studies in Functional Syntax. Wilhelm Fink.  BoPGoogle Scholar
Mathesius, V.
1911O potenciálnosti jevů jazykových. Věstnìk Král. čes. Společnosti nauk, tř. histor: 1–24. [English version by J. Vachek. 1964. On the Potentiality of the Phenomena of Language. In J. Vachek (ed.) A Prague School Reader in Linguistics: 1–32. Indiana University Press.]Google Scholar
Matthews, P.H.
2001A Short History of Structuralist Linguistics. Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Newmeyer, F
1988Linguistic Theory in America. Academic Press.Google Scholar
Pike, K.
(1967)[1954]Language in Relation to a Unified Theory of the Structure of Human Behavior. Mouton.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1982Linguistic Concepts: An Introduction to Tagmemics. University of Nebraska Press.  BoPGoogle Scholar
Pottier, B.
1963Recherches sur l’analyse sémantique en linguistique et en traduction mécanique. Publications linguistiques de la Faculté des lettres et sciences humaines de Nancy.Google Scholar
1964Vers une sémantique moderne. Travaux de Linguistique et de Littérature 1: 107–138.Google Scholar
1974Linguistique générale. Théorie et description. Klincksieck.Google Scholar
Pustejovsky, J.
1995The Generative Lexicon. MIT Press.  MetBibGoogle Scholar
Rasmussen, M
1992Hjelmslevs sprogteori. Glossematikken i videnskabshistorik, videnskabsteoretisk og erkendelsesteoretisk perspektiv. Odense Universitetsforlag.Google Scholar
Rastier, F.
(1996)[1987]Sémantique interprétative (2nd edition). PUF.  BoPGoogle Scholar
Sanders, C.
(ed.) 2004The Cambridge Companion to Saussure. Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sapir, E.
1921Language. An Introduction to the Study of Speech. Harcourt, Brace and World.  BoPGoogle Scholar
Saussure, F. De
1879Mémoire sur le système primitif des voyelles dans les langues indo-européennes. Teubner.Google Scholar
1968Cours de linguistique générale. Critical edition by R. Engler, vol. 1. Otto Harrassowitz.Google Scholar
1974Cours de linguistique générale. Critical edition by R. Engler, vol. 2. Otto Harrassowitz [Appendice, notes de F. de Saussure sur la linguistique générale.]Google Scholar
(1995)[1916]Cours de linguistique générale published by C. Bally & A. Sechehaye (& A. Riedlinger). Edition with introduction and notes by T. De Mauro (3rd edition). Payot.Google Scholar
2002Écrits de linguistique générale. Critical edition by S. Bouquet & R. Engler, with the assistance of A. Weil. Gallimard.Google Scholar
Scheerer, T.M.
1980Ferdinand de Saussure. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft.Google Scholar
Sériot, P.
1999Structure et totalité. PUF.Google Scholar
Shannon, C.E.
1948A Mathematical Theory of Communication. Bell System Technical Journal 27, July: 379–423; October: 623–656. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tesniere, L.
1966Éléments de syntaxe structurale. Préface de Jean Fourquet (2nd edition). Klincksieck.Google Scholar
Thèses
Mélanges linguistiques dédiés au premier congrès des philologues slaves (1929). Travaux du Cercle Linguistique de Prague 1: 5–29.
Todorov, T.
1969Grammaire du ‘Décaméron’. Mouton.Google Scholar
Trier, J.
1931Der deutsche Wortschatz im Sinnbezirk des Verstandes: Die Geschichte eines sprachlichen Feldes. Winter.Google Scholar
Trubetzkoy, N.S.
1931Die phonologischen Systeme. Travaux du Cercle Linguistique de Prague 4: 96–116.Google Scholar
1939Grundzüge der Phonologie. Travaux du Cercle Linguistique de Prague 7. Cercle Linguistique de Prague.Google Scholar
Uldall, H.J.
1957Outline of Glossematics, Part I: General Theory. Travaux du Cercle Linguistique de Copenhague 10: 1–89. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ungeheuer, G.
1961Logischer Positivismus und Moderne Linguistik (Glossematik). Språkvetenskapliga Sällskapets i Uppsala Förhandlinger 1958–1960 60: 1–24.Google Scholar
Vachek, J.
1966The Linguistic School of Prague. An introduction to its Theory and Practice. Indiana University Press.  BoPGoogle Scholar
Wiener, N.
1948Cybernetics or Control and communication in the animal and the machine. Technology Press.Google Scholar
Wunderli, P.
1981aSaussure-Studien: exegetische und wissenschaftsgeschichtliche Untersuchungen zum Werk von F. de Saussure (Tübinger Beiträge zur Linguistik 148). Narr.Google Scholar
1981bSaussure und die “signification”. In H. Geckeler, B. Schlieben-Lange, J. Trabant & H. Weydt (eds.) Logos Semantikos. Studia linguistica in honorem Eugenio Coseriu 1921–1981, vol. 1: 267–284. de Gruyter, Gredos.Google Scholar
2004Saussure’s anagrams and the analysis of literary texts. In C. Sanders (ed.): 174–185. DOI logoGoogle Scholar