Sound-image
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- | [[Image:Sign and signifier as imagined by de Saussure.jpg|thumb|right|200px|[[Signified]] ([[concept]]) and [[signifier]] (sound-image) as imagined by [[de Saussure]]]] | + | [[Image:Sign and signifier as imagined by de Saussure.jpg|thumb|right|200px|[[Signified]] ([[concept]]) and [[signifier]] ([[sound-image]]) as imagined by [[de Saussure]]]] |
{{Template}} | {{Template}} | ||
In ''[[Course in General Linguistics]]'', the focus of [[de Saussure]]'s investigation is the linguistic unit or [[sign]]. | In ''[[Course in General Linguistics]]'', the focus of [[de Saussure]]'s investigation is the linguistic unit or [[sign]]. |
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In Course in General Linguistics, the focus of de Saussure's investigation is the linguistic unit or sign.
The sign (signe) is described as a "double entity", made up of the signifier, or sound image (signifiant), and the signified, or concept (signifié). The sound image is a psychological, not a material concept, belonging to the system. Both components of the linguistic sign are inseparable. One 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.
The relationship between signifier and signified is, however, 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. Indeed, the basic insight of Saussure's thought is that denotation, the reference to objects in some universe of discourse, is mediated by system-internal relations of difference.