Thus an entire text could be summarized by a string of logical symbols which have some type of universal validity. It is this universally valid meaning which allows the translation of a text from one language to another. The deep structure is what is meant by 'meaning'. Wherever a translation occurs one can observe the outworking of this principle. For example, in the United Nations as a translator hears the speaker, he perceives the surface structure of the original language and interprets the meaning of this structure which he in turn expresses in the receptor language by means of a different surface structure.
Deep structure is structured.
8 Deep structure is not an unattainable, undefined mass of meaning. Rather it can be analyzed and studied in the same manner as can surface structure. The deep structure is universal. Whereas the surface structure is language specific, the deep structure is near-universal. Whereas the surface structure of each language is unique, the deep structure or semantic structure has a universal validity.