Binary opposition

The term 'binary' denotes 'composed of rwo', 'twofold'; as in a binary star, 'one of a pair of stars held together by gravitation'. Language, too, has countless binary oppositions: up/down; slow/fasq sense/nonsense; trutVfdsehood; blacVwhite; man/woman - and so on. The concept of binary opposition is central to structuralism (q.v.) and structuralist practice. As a structuralist concept it derives especially from L6vi-Strauss's studies of mythology. Linguistics and structuralist analysis use the notion of binary opposition not only in terms of words or concepts but in terms of the conventions or codes of a text. For deconstruction, and post-structuralism the notion of binary opposition is unsatisfactory because it represents anostalgia for'self-presence' or'centring'.
English - Penguin Dictionary Of Literary Terms And Literary Theory.pdf