Saussure on Language: Ferdinand De Essay

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The mental concept or signified basically refers to the particular thing or event within the mental representation.

The Linguistic Sign:

Saussure considers language as a form rather than substance because the linguistic sign is basically fabricated by a combination of the obvious sound image (signifier) and the mental concept (signified). In fact, he considers the linguistic sign as a mental relationship between the signifier and the signified rather than being the connection between a thing and a name (Walker par, 5). Furthermore, while the signifier is a link between a sound pattern and a sound, the signified is a connection the mental image of a concept and the concept itself. Therefore, language consists of not only a process of translating concepts into sounds but it is also a process of translating sounds into concepts.

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As a result of this process, the connection between a sound image and a mental concept contributes to a form rather than a substance.

Meaning of the Statement:

By stating that language is a form and not a substance, Saussure's theory basically means that language consists of differences only instead of identities. He considers language not to be a matter of natural substance but of form because the disparity from other signifiers verifies the identity of signifiers. When signifiers are spelled differently or sound in a different way, they normally create a different meaning and function to name things. Furthermore, according to Saussure, the idea that language is form and not substance means that it is a set of relations between mental symbols of entities and the entities themselves.

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