Class 12 (English 197 – Fall 2022)

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Class Business

  • Reading for Next Class
    • For Thursday
      • Ryan Heuser, “Word Vectors in the Eighteenth Century” (conference proceedings abstract) (2017) PDF File
        • Optional: If you are interested, you may wish to read Ryan Heuser’s series of blog posts about word embedding linked from this page on his blog (with individual posts on “Concepts,” “Methods,” “From Fields to Vectors,” and “Semantic Networks”).
    • Manicule Due Thursday, Nov. 3rd: Word Embedding Exercise

Structural Linguistics & the 20th-C. “Linguistic Turn”

Ferdinand de SaussureCourse in General Linguistics (1916)  – read pp. 114-117, 123-27

The strucuralist sign. (Diagram from Ferdinand de Saussure, Course in General Linguistics,1915)
The strucuralist sign. (Diagram from Ferdinand de Saussure, Course in General Linguistics

Strucuralist differentiation. (Diagram from Ferdinand de Saussure, Course in General Linguistics,1915)
Strucuralist differentiation. (Diagram from Ferdinand de Saussure, Course in General Linguistics)

Fleuron icon (small)

Claude Lévi-Strauss, “The Structural Study of Myth” (1951) and Savage Mind (1962)

Structuralist homology. (Diagram from Claude Lévi-Strauss, from Savage Mind, 1962)
Structuralist homology. (Diagram from Claude Lévi-Strauss, from Savage Mind, 1962)

Claude Lévi-Strauss, "The Structural Study of Myth" (1955), p. 433
Claude Lévi-Strauss, “The Structural Study of Myth” (1955), p. 433.

Cover of Claude Lévi-Strauss, The Raw and the Cooked
Cover of Claude Lévi-Strauss, The Raw and the Cooked (1964)

The culinary triangle, from Claude Levi-Strauss, The Raw and the Cooked (1964)
The culinary triangle, from Claude Levi-Strauss, The Raw and the Cooked (1964)

“The Linguistic Turn”

Roland Barthes, The Fashion System (1967, trans. 1983) (book cover) Roland Barthes, The Fashion System (1967, trans. 1983) -- Beginning of "Foreword" to 1990 edition (screenshot)
Roland Barthes, The Fashion System (1967, trans. 1983)

Charles Jencks, The Language of Post-Modern Architecture (1977) (book cover)
Charles Jencks, The Language of Post-Modern Architecture (1977)

The “Information” Turn

Claude Shannon's diagram of a general communication system from his "The Mathematical Theory of Communication" (1948)
Claude Shannon’s diagram of a general communication system from his “The Mathematical Theory of Communication” (1948) [excerpts]

Jacques Derrida, “Structure, Sign and Play in the Discourse of the Human Sciences” (1966)

Saussurean concept of the sign (diagram by Alan Liu)
Saussurean concept of the sign (diagram by Alan Liu)

Derrida, Positions (1972)

The maintenance of the rigorous distinction–an essential and juridical distinction — between the signans and the signatum, the equation of the signatum and the concept, inherently leaves open the possibility of thinking a concept signified in and of itself, a concept simply present for thought, independent of a relationship to language, that is of a relationship to a system of signifiers. By leaving open this possibility — and it is inherent even in the opposition signifier/signified, that is in the sign — Saussure contradicts the critical acquisitions of which we were just speaking. He accedes to the classical exigency of what I have proposed to call a “transcendental signified,” which in and of itself, in its essence, would refer to no signifier, would exceed the chain of signs, and would no longer function as a signifier. On the contrary, though, from the moment that one questions the possibility of such a transcendental signified, and that one recognizes that every signified is also in the position of a signifier, the distinction between signified and signifier becomes problematical at its root. (pp. 19-20)

Some key terms used by Derrida and deconstruction:

  • “Presence” / “Absence”
  • “Center” / “Decentered”
  • “Supplement”
  • “Trace”
  • “Différance”
  • “Intertextuality”
  • “Catachresis”

Major (Scientific/Cultural) Paradigms of Modern Thought

  • Relativity

    • Albert Einstein, “On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies” (paper on special relativity) (1905)
  • The Unconscious

    • Sigmund FreudThe Interpretation of Dreams (1899)
  • Language (Langue)

    • Ferdinand de Saussure, Course on General Linguistics (1916)

Distributional Semantics (“distributional hypothesis”)

J. [John] R. [Rupert] Firth“A Synopsis of Linguistic Theory, 1930-55” – read sections III-IV (pp. 7-13)

The basic assumption of the theory of analysis by levels is that any text can be regarded as a constituent of a context of situation or of a series of such contexts…. The context of situation according to this theory is not merely a setting, background, or ‘back-drop’ for the ‘words’. The text in the focus of attention on renewal of connection with an instance, is regarded as an integral part of the context, and is observed in relation to the qther parts regarded as relevant in the statement of the context. (7)

The placing of a text as a constituent in a context of situation contributes to the statement of meaning since situations are set up to recognize use. As Wittgenstein says, ‘the meaning of words lies in their use.’ The day to day practice of playing language games recognizes customs and rules. It follows that a text in such established usage may contain sentences such as ‘Don’t be such an ass!’, ‘You silly ass!’, ‘What an ass he is!’ In these examples, the word ass is in familiar and habitual company, commonly collocated with you silly–, he is a silly–, don’t be such an–. You shall know a word by the company it keeps! One of the meanings of ass is its habitual collocation with such other words as those above quoted. (11)

It will then be found that meaning by collocation will suggest a small number of groups of collocations for each word studied. (13)

Case Study

Amendments to the U.S. Bill of Rights
Amendments to the U.S. Bill of Rights (National Archives transcription)

Word Embeddings (Word Vectors)

Fleuron icon (small)

This is the main course website. There is also a course Canvas site for uploading assignments.
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