Introduction
Ferdinand de Saussure is widely regarded as the
father of modern linguistics. ‘The Nature
of Linguistics Sign’ is extracted from his work “Course in General Linguistics”. It is a summary of the lectures at
the University of Geneva from 1906 to 1911. Saussure examines the relationship
between speech and the evaluation of language, and investigates language as a
structured system of signs.
Definition of Linguistics
Saussure defines linguistics as the study of
language and as the study of the manifestation of human speech. He says that
linguistics is also concerned with the history of languages and with the social
or cultured influences that shape the development of language. It includes such
fields as phonology, phonetics, morphology, semantics, and pragmatics and
language acquisition.
Sign, Signification and Signs
Saussure
says that for some people, a language is a list of terms corresponding to a
list of things. For ex: In Latin would be represented as ‘arbor’.
This
conception is open to number of objections. It assumes that ideas already exist
independently of words. It doesn’t clarify whether the name is vocal or a psychological
entity. Thus a linguistic sign is not a link between a thing and a sound, but
between a concept and a sound pattern. The sound pattern is the hearer’s
psychological impression of a sound, as given to him by the evidence of his
senses. This sound pattern may be called as ‘material’ element only. It is the
representation of our sensory impressions.
The sound pattern may thus be distinguished
from the other element associated with it in a linguistic sign. This other
element is generally of more absent kind, the concept. The psychological nature
of our sound pattern becomes clear when we consider our own linguistic activity
without moving lips or tongue. Speaking of the sound and syllabus of a word
need not give rise to any understanding, provided one always bears in mind that
this refers to the sound pattern. That is concept.
According
to Saussure, the linguistic sign is a two-sided psychological entity. These two elements are intimately linked and bid
with each other. Thus in our terminology, a sign is the combination of a
concept and a sound pattern. But in current usage the term ‘Sign’ generally
refers to the sound pattern alone. For ex: the word ‘arbor’. It is forgotten
that if carries with it the concept ‘tree’. So the sensory part of the term
implies reference to the whole.
Linguistic Sign is arbitrary
The link between signal and
signification is the combination in which a signal is associated with a
signification. It can be expressed simply as ‘the linguistics is arbitrary’. By
‘arbitrary’ the author means that ‘it is unmotivated, that is arbitrary in that
it actually has no natural connection with the signified.
Saussure draws a distinction
between language (langue) and the activity of speaking (parole). Speaking is an
activity of the individual, language is the social manifestation of speech.
Language is a system of signs that evolves from the activity of speech.
Language is a link between thought
and sound, and is a means for thought to be expressed as sound. Thought have to
become ordered and sounds have to be articulated for language to occur.
Saussure says that language is really a borderline between thought and sound,
where thought and sound combine to provide communication.
Spoken language include the
communication of concepts by means of sound-images from the speaker to the
listener language is a product of speaker’s communication of signs to the
listener.
Saussure says that a linguistic
sign is a communication of a concept and a sound image. The concept is what is
signified, and the sound-image is a signifier. The combination of the signifier
and signified is arbitrary that is any sound image can conceiving be used to
signify a particular concept.
Thus, according to Saussure, the
relation between the signifier and the signified is arbitrary. There is no
direct connection between the shape and the concept. For instance, there is no
reason why the letter C-A-T (or the sound of the phonemes) produces exactly the
image of the small, domesticated animal with fur, four legs and a trial in our
minds. It is a result of ‘convention’; speakers of the same language group have
agreed and learned that these letters or sounds evoke certain image.
Then Saussure defines semiology as
the study of signs, and says that linguistics is a part of semiology. He
maintains that written language exists for the purpose of representing spoken
language. A written word is an image of a vocal sign. Then Saussure argues that
language is a structural system of arbitrary signs. On the other hand, symbols
are nor arbitrary. A symbol may be a signifier but in contrast to a sign, a
symbol is never completely arbitrary. A symbol has a rational relationship with
what is signified.
In the end of this part, two
objects may be mentioned which might be brought against the principle that
linguistic signs are arbitrary. They are,
a) Onomatopoeia words might be held to show that a
choice of signal is not always arbitrary. It is only approximate imitation,
already partly conventionalized, of certain sounds. This is evident when it is
compared to French dogs ‘oua oua’ and German dogs ‘Wau, Wau’.
b) Interjections which falls much to the same logic as
onomatopoeia, as in demonstrated by companies of the same expression in two
languages (eg: The French ‘aie’ and the English ‘ouch’).
Conclusion
Thus, Saussure shows that the meaning or signification of signs is established by their relation to each other. The relation of signs to each other forms the structure of language. Synchronic reality is found in the structure of language at a given point in time. Diachronic reality is found in changes of language over a period of time. To conclude with the words of Marya Mazor, “Ferdinand de Saussure ‘course in general linguistics’ is the first step and a mile stone in modern linguistics.
Reference:
https://www.academia.edu/20136477/Nature_of_Linguistic_Sign?auto=download&email_work_card=view-paper
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