Q: Ferdinand de Saussure presented a structure of the language.

Discuss it in your own

words.

Ferdinand de Saussure was Swiss linguist. Saussure introduced Structuralism, marking a

revolutionary break in the study of language. According to Plato, language is a system of naming
things and does not play any role in the construction of meaning. But Saussure reject this concept
and says that language does not a system of naming things which exist independently in the word
but language comes before these things and it help us to understand this world in different ways.

Sign system

He says that language is sign system. A sign divided in signifier and signified.

A signifier is the sound or written image.

Example: the word cat when we hear or write is signifier

A signified is the thought or mental concept about signifier.

Example: it (cat) ha four legs, black color etc.

The relationship between signifier and signified are arbitrary.

Langue and parole

Parole refers to the individual language acts which occur when anyone audibly voices letters,
words, sentences, etc. Parole is the physical manifestation of speech. Parole is individual system.

Langue is the total system of a language.it comprises of all the rules and principles that an
individual must follow. . Langue is the abstract system of principles language out of which acts
of speech (parole) occur. Langue is social system.

Arbitrariness

According to Aristotle, the names of concept and things are logically connected and names
express the qualities of things, but Saussure reject this concept. He says that the relationship
between signifier and signified are arbitrary
Saussure stressed the arbitrariness of the sign. By saying that signs are arbitrary, Saussure was
saying that there is no good reason why we use the sequence of sounds 'sister' to mean a female
sibling For that matter, we could just as well use the sequence of sounds: 'brother'. Of course, as
he pointed out, we don't have any choice in the matter. If we want to talk about female siblings in
the English language, we can only talk about 'female siblings' or 'sisters'.

The point of the arbitrariness of the sign is that there is not compelling necessary connection
between signifier and signified, and therefore language as a system determines meaning which
does not originate outside of language. Saussure saw language as being an ordered system of
signs whose meanings are arrived at arbitrarily by a cultural convention.