 | Saussure splits langue (shared system) from parole (individual speech) — the signifier/signified bond is arbitrary and relational, so meaning lives in difference within structure, not private intention alone. Ferdinand de Saussure (1916) · Payot · ISBN 9780812699027 |
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Key principles
- Langue versus parole — System versus instance — study the shared code before judging single utterances.
- Signifier-signified pair — Two-sided psychological sign — neither side is the thing-in-itself.
- Arbitrariness of sign — Link is conventional — change the convention, change the meaning field.
- Value by opposition — Units defined by difference — cat means cat because not cap, bat, or mat.
- Synchronic analysis — Structure at a moment — diachronic history explains change but not current grid.
- Structural relation — Parts derive meaning from position — wholes constrain parts, not sum of atoms.
Core science
Course in General Linguistics (1916, posthumous lectures) launched structural linguistics — the frame behind later semiotics, anthropology, and literary theory on Semiotics. Pair with Peirce (Collected Papers) when triadic interpretants need structural contrast.
Application
Reach for this volume when framing, metaphor, or semantic work needs structural language theory — before treating words as transparent labels. Open Semiotics on the Atlas shelf for the mechanism map.