LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 23:4 April 2023
ISSN 1930-2940

Editors:
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         T. Deivasigamani, Ph.D.
         Pammi Pavan Kumar, Ph.D.
         Soibam Rebika Devi, M.Sc., Ph.D.

Managing Editor & Publisher: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.

Celebrate India!
Unity in Diversity!!

HOME PAGE

Click Here for Back Issues of Language in India - From 2001

Poetic Encounter
Available in https://www.amazon.in/dp/B09TT86S4T

Poems
Naked: the honest browsings of two brown women
Available in https://www.amazon.in

Decrees
Available in https://www.amazon.com

BOOKS FOR YOU TO READ AND DOWNLOAD FREE!

REFERENCE MATERIALS

BACK ISSUES

  • E-mail your articles and book-length reports in Microsoft Word to languageinindiaUSA@gmail.com.

  • PLEASE READ THE GUIDELINES GIVEN IN HOME PAGE IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE LIST OF CONTENTS.

  • Your articles and book-length reports should be written following the APA, MLA, LSA, or IJDL Stylesheet.

  • The Editorial Board has the right to accept, reject, or suggest modifications to the articles submitted for publication, and to make suitable stylistic adjustments. High quality, academic integrity, ethics and morals are expected from the authors and discussants.

Copyright © 2023
M. S. Thirumalai

Publisher: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
11249 Oregon Circle
Bloomington, MN 55438
USA
Custom Search

Saussurian Sign

Agniva Pal, PhD in Linguistics (JNU)

Abstract

At the time when Saussure or Pierce were propounding and formulating their ideas about the relationship between a concept and the multiple ways they can be referred to, the world was still going through the extended effects of the industrial revolution. The world was still connecting and finding out that there could be multiple ways of referring to most concepts around us. But fast forward a hundred years and the world has changed a lot. Concepts have changed and we now live in an earth which is more connected than ever and new ‘languages’ keep cropping up once in a while. The concept of sign propounded has had a big role to play in the structure of language, at least from a theoretical point of view. The idea of sign has evolved over time and this paper presents a discussion of the relationships between signifiers and signifieds.

Keywords: Saussure, Pierce, Linguistics, signified, signifier

Introduction

Language is a system of references which enables communication in species with design features (Hockett, 1960) like vocal Auditory Channel, Broadcast transmission; directional reception, total feedback, rapid fading, displacement, productivity, traditional transmission, learnability and reflexiveness. In short, higher primates with higher cognitive abilities or species with the ability to use the above-mentioned design features have the ability to use language akin to human beings. Homo sapiens are the only species though, with the ability to use features like displacement, productivity, traditional transmission, learnability and reflexiveness (Pierce, 2006).

Ferdinand de Saussure in his lectures propounded the theory of structuralism. Structuralism (Saussure, 1916) is the primary theory which led the impetus into modern language theory. Saussure defines the concept of sign as the relationship between a signified concept and a signifier. A signifier can be defined as a means to refer to a concept; a concept which exists at the Langue level. This concept which exists at the concept level is what we call a signified concept. Saussure reiterates that every word we utter, every word we write, every gesture we make, every sound we make in order to convey information, every picture we draw in order to convey some message, every expression, every hand gesture and every other way we use in order to convey some information or refer to some signified concept is a sign relationship. Methods we use to refer to concepts are called signifiers. Concepts we refer to are called signifieds.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Agniva Pal
PhD in Linguistics, Jawaharlal Nehru University
Assistant Professor, School of Education
Azim Premji University
Bengaluru
agniva.pal@apu.edu.in
Custom Search
  • Click Here to Go to Creative Writing Section

  • Send your articles
    as an attachment
    to your e-mail to
    languageinindiaUSA@gmail.com.
  • Please ensure that your name, academic degrees, institutional affiliation and institutional address, and your e-mail address are all given in the first page of your article. Also include a declaration that your article or work submitted for publication in LANGUAGE IN INDIA is an original work by you and that you have duly acknowledged the work or works of others you used in writing your articles, etc. Remember that by maintaining academic integrity we not only do the right thing but also help the growth, development and recognition of Indian/South Asian scholarship.