![]() Saussure's distinction between speech and language is also important: speech refers to individual speech-acts language to the structure of signs out of which the speech-acts are formed. For example, we understand the meaning of ‘up’ in relation to the meaning of ‘down’, and cannot conceive of one without the other. The meaning of any particular sign is defined by its relationship to other signs in the system. We could call our hands ‘daffodils’, and flowers ‘hands’, and nothing would change in the world: it is just that we commonly agree that the daffodil is a flower and the things at the end of our arms are hands. There is no necessary relationship between the sign and its referent rather, the relationship is socially agreed. Saussure emphasized the conventional nature of signs. The two are bound together like the two sides of a piece of paper. ![]() It is seen as a combination of signifier (the material element, sound, or marks on paper) and signified (the concept with which the signifier is associated). The concept of the sign is taken from Saussure ( Course in General Linguistics, 1916). It proved especially attractive to sociologists interested in the analysis of ideology-particularly those with a Marxist or feminist background. ![]() ![]() Semiology owes much to the structural linguistics of Saussure and developed as part of the upsurge of structuralism during the 1970s. Semiology, semiotics The study of signs and sign systems. ![]()
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