Saussure Ferdinand De Saussure\'s Book

Saussure

Ferdinand de Saussure's book Course in General Linguistics was extremely important due to the way it made human language more intelligible, revealing some of the ways it functioned as a system of signs. In particular, Sausurre argues that a "sign," by which he means a "two-sided linguistic unit," is made up of two inextricable constituent parts: the signifier and the signified (Saussure 2011, p. 103). By signifier, Saussure means the "sound-image," or what most people think of as a spoken word, and by signified, he means the larger concept being referred to. From here, Saussure attempts to describe how language allows for meaning on the basis of difference between signs.

For Saussure, signification is process by which a sign acts, signifying the signified in the action of language use. One must speak of signifier and signified at the same time, because as Saussure notes, "a succession of sounds is linguistic only if it supports an idea" (Saussure 2011, p. 103). Perhaps the most important thing to realize about the relationship between signifier and signified is that this relationship is always arbitrary, meaning that there is no inherent, meaningful connection between the signifier and the signified other than whatever connection has emerged due to the social evolution of language.

If the signifier and signified are what make up a sign, what actually allows people to make sense of the system of signs that constitutes language is the difference between them. This is what Saussure means by "value," because the value of a particular sign is only evident when it is considered within its larger system, because the value of a sign (and according to Saussure, almost anything) can only be determined by comparing and contrasting it to similar and dissimilar things (Saussure 2011, p. 115). Recognizing that the meaning of language comes from the difference between signs is important because it allows one to begin discussing the actual relationships between signs, which is what ultimately allows language to become intelligible beyond simple dictionary definitions.

The relationships that can exist between signs can be either syntagmatic or associative. An associative relationship means a relationship between a group of signs, while a syntagmatic relationship means a relationship that exists between signs that are grouped together based on their syntactical meaning. For example, the words "house" and "home" have an associative relationship, while the words "open" and "house" could be said to have a syntagmatic relationship.

According to Dictionary.com, the definition of "house" is "a building in which people live; residence for human beings," while the definition for "home" is "a house, apartment, or other shelter that is the usual residence of a person, family, or household." Almost immediately one can see how it is the relationship between signs that creates meaning, because Dictionary.com actually uses "house" in its definition of "home." The two are clearly related via an associative relationship, but it is their difference that actually allows one to understand the specific meaning of either. A house is the physical object on its own, but a home is that physical object considered in specific relation to an individual. This example helps demonstrate how the system of signs ultimately determines a sign's value as well as what Saussure means by associate relationships.