> > The binary opposition is the binary opposition. The structure is the
> > relationship or identification of two ore more binary oppositions. In
> > my example, male/female is _not_ the structure. Get it ?
I haven't been following this thread closely, but this seems sort of bizarre. If x is the relationship, why are you binging in Y at all. It seems that you are merely in love with the WORD, "structue." If it is a relationship, then you can forget "binary" and "structure" and settle down to study social relations ratheer than play semantic games.
Carrol
^^^^^^^ CB: The "discovery" is that cultures are made up of arbitrarily ( historically created, not created by individuals) analogized relations. The opposition male/female is analogized to other oppositions. So the relationship x is analogized to the _relationship_ y _by the people themselves_ in a given culture. These are empirically discovered by ethnographers, fieldworkers.
The actual social relationships "on the ground" are expressions of the cultural ideas. The Islanders have the cultural idea male/female is analogous to seaside/island side. So, when you start observing the actual social relationships, you notice the people ordering their behavior according to rules based on this and other ...dare I say it ... structures (laugh)
I'm more in love with softness than strucure (smile)
Cheerio, comrade, see you later !