Practice question · Fill in the blanks
Complete the Saussurean vocabulary.
The sign joins a ______ to a ______, and their link is ______. The shared system is called ______, and an individual utterance is ______.
Word bank: signifier · signified · arbitrary · langue · parole · referent
Hints
- The first two are the two faces of one sign, not the sign and the world.
- The system is social and the utterance is individual.
Show the answer
The sign joins a signifier to a signified, and their link is arbitrary. The shared system is called langue, and an individual utterance is parole.
Why
Note what is missing from the list: the referent, the thing in the world. Saussure's sign is a relation between a sound-image and a concept, both mental, and that exclusion is exactly what later critics, from Benveniste onward, pushed back against.
Practise The Sign, the Code and the Six Functions
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