Summary of excerpt from “Course in General Linguistics”

In this excerpt from “Course in General Linguistics,” Saussure is explaining the object of linguistics, and how it can be studied to become a science. He started off the chapter by explaining that language can actually be studied, it is homogenous, and it is very concrete. Saussure said that language is “a storehouse of sound-images, and writing is the tangible form of those images.” There, according to Saussure, is a science that studies the signs of life, or language, it just doesn’t actually exist as a science yet. This science is called semiology. The only way that there could actually be a science to study signs and language is if it was separated from everything else and not studied with anything else.

Saussure then goes into the actuality of the sign and how it relates to language. While some people may believe every word has a sign, it may not always work that way. This is because it may be vocal or psychological. However, the sign may unite, “not a thing and a name, but a concept and sound-image.” He points out that we are using the psychological form of language and sound-images when we talk to ourselves, because we don’t move our lips or tongue. This is significant because it exemplifies how language can be used without actually speaking; it is more of a concept. Saussure shows a drawing that explains how the concept and sound-image are related, and the order can go back and forth.

Then he explains the arbitrary nature of the nature of the sign and how, when one uses signs and expressions solely for using them and not because they are required to do so, can realize the ideals of semiology. This makes language very complex. Saussure brings up the case of the symbol and why it can be such an important term. It has a specific connection to the sign and can not be changed. He then brings up onomatopoeia and interjections, as they may be objections to what he had talked about before. They, however, do exist because they are accepted, and are subject to the evolution of linguistics. In closing, Saussure points out the linear nature of the symbol, or signifier. It takes on a linear nature because when writing, because there is only one dimension in which to write.