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=                 Structuralist theory of mythology                  =
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                             Introduction
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In structural anthropology, Claude Lévi-Strauss, a French
anthropologist, makes the claim that "myth is language". Through
approaching mythology as language, Lévi-Strauss suggests that it can
be approached the same way as language can be approached by the same
structuralist methods used to address language. Thus, Lévi-Strauss
offers a structuralist theory of mythology; he clarifies, "Myth is
language, functioning on an especially high level where meaning
succeeds practically at 'taking off' from the linguistic ground on
which it keeps rolling."


                               Overview
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Lévi-Strauss breaks down his argument into three main parts. Meaning
is not isolated within the specific fundamental parts of the myth, but
rather within the composition of these parts. Although myth and
language are of similar categories, language functions differently in
myth. Finally, language in myth exhibits more complex functions than
in any other linguistic expression. From these suggestions, he draws
the conclusion that myth can be broken down into constituent units,
and these units are different from the constituents of language.
Finally, unlike the constituents of language, the constituents of a