Editing Structuralism (section)

==In linguistics==

{{Main|Structural linguistics}}

{{Linguistics|expanded=Topics}}<!-- This section is linked from [[Charles F. Hockett]] -->
In [[Ferdinand de Saussure]]'s ''[[Course in General Linguistics]]'', the analysis focuses not on the use of language (''[[Langue and parole|parole]]'', 'speech'), but rather on the underlying [[system]] of language (''[[Langue and parole|langue]]''). This approach examines how the elements of language relate to each other in the present, [[synchronic analysis|synchronically]] rather than [[Historical linguistics|diachronically]]. Saussure argued that [[Sign (linguistics)|linguistic signs]] were composed of two parts:

# a ''[[signifiant]]'' ('signifier'): the "sound pattern" of a word, either in mental projection—e.g., as when one silently recites lines from signage, a poem to one's self—or in actual, any kind of text, physical realization as part of a [[speech act]].
# a ''signifié'' '(signified'): the concept or meaning of the word.

This differed from previous approaches that focused on the relationship between words and the things in the world that they designate.<ref>Suryo, Roy, and Talbot Roosevelt. [1989]. ''Landmarks in Linguistic Thought'' (1st ed.). pp. 178–79.</ref>

Although not fully developed by Saussure, other key notions in structural linguistics can be found in structural "idealism." A '''structural idealism''' is a class of linguistic units ([[lexemes]], [[morphemes]], or even [[Pattern language|constructions]]) that are possible in a certain position in a given ''[[Syntagma (linguistics)|syntagm]]'', or linguistic environment (such as a given sentence). The different functional role of each of these members of the [[paradigm]] is called 'value' ([[French language|French]]: ''{{lang|fr|valeur}}'').

=== Prague School ===
In France, [[Antoine Meillet]] and [[Émile Benveniste]] continued Saussure's project, and members of the [[Prague linguistic circle|Prague school]] of linguistics such as [[Roman Jakobson]] and [[Nikolai Trubetzkoy]] conducted influential research. The clearest and most important example of Prague school structuralism lies in [[phonemics]]. Rather than simply compiling a list of which sounds occur in a language, the Prague school examined how they were related. They determined that the inventory of sounds in a language could be analysed as a series of contrasts. 

Thus, in English, the sounds /p/ and /b/ represent distinct [[phonemes]] because there are cases ([[minimal pair|''minimal pairs'']]) where the contrast between the two is the only difference between two distinct words (e.g. 'pat' and 'bat'). Analyzing sounds in terms of [[Contrastive distribution|contrastive features]] also opens up comparative scope—for instance, it makes clear the difficulty [[Japanese language|Japanese]] speakers have differentiating /r/ and /l/ in [[English language|English]] and other languages is because these sounds are not contrastive in Japanese. [[Phonology]] would become the paradigmatic basis for structuralism in a number of different fields.

Based on the Prague school concept, André Martinet in France, [[John Rupert Firth|J. R. Firth]] in the UK and [[Louis Hjelmslev]] in Denmark developed their own versions of structural and [[functional linguistics]].