Ferdinand de Saussure's Cours de linguistique générale was published posthumously in 1916 by Charles Bally and Albert Sechehaye based on lecture notes. It is generally seen as being the origin of structuralism. Although Saussure was, like his contemporaries, interested in historical linguistics, in the Cours he developed a more general theory of semiology.

Semiology: Langage, Langue, and Parole

Ferdinand de Saussure focuses on what he calls langage, that is ‘a system of signs that express ideas’, and suggests that it may be divided in to two components: langue, referring to the abstract system of language, and parole, referring, in essence, to speech or the ‘putting into practice of language’. Saussure argued against the popular organicist view of language as a natural organism, which, without being determinable by the will of man, grows and evolves in accordance with fixed laws. Instead, he defined language as a social product; the social side of speech outside of the speaker’s control. According to Saussure, language is not a function of the speaker, but is passively assimilated. Speaking, as defined by Saussure, is a premeditated act.

While speech (parole) is heterogeneous, that is to say, it is composed of unrelated or differing parts or elements, language (langue) is homogeneous, composed of the union of meanings and sound images in which both parts are psychological. Therefore, as langue is systematic, it is this that Saussure focuses on since it allows an investigative methodology that is rooted, supposedly, in pure science. Beginning with the Greek word ‘semîon’ meaning 'sign’, Saussure names this science semiology: ‘a science that studies the life of signs within society’.

The Sign

The focus of Saussure’s investigation is the linguistic unit or sign.

Fig. 1 - The Sign

The sign is described as a ‘double entity’, made up of the signifier (or sound image), and the signified (or concept). The sound image is a psychological NOT material concept (a poem can be mentally recited). Both components of the linguistic sign are inseparable. The easiest way to appreciate this is to think of them as being like either side of a piece of paper - one side simply cannot exist without the other.

But the relationship between signifier and signified is not quite that simple. Saussure is adamant that language cannot be considered a collection of names for a collection of objects (as where Adam is said to have named the animals). According to Saussure, language is not a nomenclature.

Arbitrariness

The basic principle of arbitrariness in the extract is: there is no natural reason why a particular sign should be attached to a particular concept.

Fig. 2 - Arbitrariness

In Figure 2 above, the signified ‘tree’ is impossible to represent because the signified is entirely conceptual. There is no definitive ‘tree’. Even the picture of a tree Saussure uses to represent the signified is itself just another signifier. This aside, it is Saussure’s argument that it is only the consistency in the system of signs that allows communication of the concept each sign signifies.

In ‘Jabberwocky’, Lewis Carroll exploits ‘the arbitrary nature of the sign’ in its use of nonsense words. The poem also demonstrates very clearly the concept of the sign as a two sided psychological entity, since it is impossible to read the nonsense words without assigning a possible meaning to them. We naturally assume that there is a signified to accompany the signifier.

The concepts of signifier and signified could be compared with the Freudian concepts of latent and manifest meaning. Freud was also inclined to make the assumption that signifiers and signifieds are inseparably bound. Humans tend to assume that all expressions of language mean something.

In further support of the arbitrary nature of the sign, Saussure goes on to argue that if words stood for pre-existing concepts they would have exact equivalents in meaning from one language to the next and this is not so. Different languages divide up the world differently. To explain this, Saussure uses the word boef as an example. He cites the fact that while, in English, we have different words for the animal and the meat product: ‘Ox’ and ‘beef’, in French, ‘boef’ is used to refer to both concepts. A perception of difference between the two concepts is absent from the French vocabulary. In Saussure's view, particular words are born out of a particular society’s needs, rather than out of a need to label a pre-existing set of concepts.

Saussure himself identifies a number of flaws in this concept of arbitrariness. First, in order to allow for numerical systems, Saussure is forced to admit to ‘degrees of arbitrariness’. That is because, though ‘twenty’ and ‘two’ might be arbitrary representations of a numerical concept, ‘twenty-two’, ‘twenty-three’ etc. are named as part of a system and therefore the signifier is not entirely arbitrary. This is illustrated equally by roman numerals.

I II III IV V VI

Fig. 3 - Degrees of Arbitrariness

A further issue is onomatopoeia. Saussure recognised that his opponents could argue that with onomatopoeia there is a direct link between word and meaning, signifier and signified. However, Saussure argues that, on closer etymological investigation, onomatopoeic words can, in fact, be coincidental, evolving from non-onomatopoeic origins. The example he uses is the French and English onomatopoeic words for a dog’s bark, that is ‘Bow Wow’ and ‘Oua Oua’.

Finally, Saussure considers interjections and dismisses this obstacle with much the same argument i.e. the sign / signifier link is less natural than it initially appears. He invites readers to note the contrast in pain interjection in French (‘aie’) and English (‘ouch’).

Difference

Saussure states: ‘[a sign’s] most precise characteristic is to be what the others are not’. In other words, signs are defined by what they are not. An example may be found in Blackadder: After burning the only copy of Johnson’s Dictionary, Blackadder and Baldric attempt to rewrite it themselves. Baldric comes up with: ‘Dog: Not a cat’ - a more accurate definition than it might seem in light of Saussure.

The Synchronic and Diachronic Axes

Language that is studied synchronically is ‘studied as a complete system at a given point in time’ (The AB axis). Language studied diachronically is ‘studied in its historical development’ (The CD axis). Saussure argues that we should be concerned with the AB axis because, he says, language is ‘a system of pure values which are determined by nothing except the momentary arrangements of its terms’.

Fig. 4 - The Synchronic and Diachronic Axes

To illustrate this, Saussure uses a chess metaphor. In chess, a person joining a game’s audience mid-way through requires no more information than the present layout of pieces on the board. They would not benefit from knowing how the pieces came to be arranged in this way.

Bibliography

• Culler, Jonathon. Literary Theory: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2000. ISBN 019285383X.
• Culler, Jonathon. Saussure. Fontana. 1976. ISBN 0006337430.
• Eagleton, Terry. Literary Theory: An Introduction. Blackwell Publishers. 1999. ISBN 0631201882.
• Saussure, Ferdinand de. Cours in Literary Theory: An Anthology ed. by Michael Ryan and Julie Rivkin. Blackwell Publishers. 2001. ISBN 1405106964.