Structuralism

Structuralism is a term referring to approaches, in linguistics and other disciplines, which explore phenomena by focusing on underlying structures and systems. Its origins are usually seen as being in the work of the linguist Ferdinand de Saussure in the early twentieth century. Structuralist ideas have been applied in varying ways in a wide range of disciplines. Later work diverged and developed in a range of directions, some critical of and some explicitly rejecting earlier ideas. While the number of approaches which identify themselves explicitly as structuralist is smaller than previously, much work in linguistics and in other areas can still be seen as applying structuralist ideas.