The words “spring,” “summer,” “winter,” and “fall,” the four terms that differentiate the generally accepted seasons of the year, are “linguistic terms,” each of which derives its value from its opposition to all of the other terms (Saussure 64). This conception of linguistic meaning created through opposition comes from the work of Structural French theorist Ferdinand de Saussure, who believed that “Language is a system of interdependent terms in which the value of each results solely from the simultaneous presence of the others” (66). The provided quotation, excerpted below, allows us a helpful window into Saussure’s theory of the linguistic sign; the interdependence of its meaning, the idea of the sign, signified and signifier, and lastly its arbitrary nature. The given quotation reads as follows:
Another example is the set of terms that we give to the seasons of the year. We have four distinct names (“spring,” “summer,” etc.), but actually the year runs continuously without any breaks or decisive changes. It is not, in reality, divided into four. Why not have six seasons, or eight? Since change is continuous throughout the year the divisions could be made anywhere at all. The seasons then, are a way of seeing the year, not an objective fact of nature.
As will become evident, this quotation provides us with an excellent way into a more concrete examination of Saussure’s theories on language and the linguistic sign.
The first thing to note about the above quotation is the fact that its overall focus is on the “four obvious names” that we give to the seasons of the year. One scheme to examine the idea of a year segmented according to seasons with regard to the literary theory of Saussure is to look at the definition of several of these words. “Spring,” one of the two distinct names traditional to refer to two of the seasons of the year that is also specifically named in our essay prompt, is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as, “The first season of the year, or that between winter and summer” (“spring, n.1“). Similarly, “summer,” the other term specifically mentioned in the above quotation, is defined in the same lexicon simply as “The second and warmest season of the year, coming between spring and autumn” (“summer, n. 1“). In each of these definitions, the season in question is defined by its relation to at least two of the other seasons, specifically by its difference from both the season that precedes it as well as the one that follows it. Such a method of defining linguistic terms is exemplary of Saussure’s approach to literature and language, which also states that “a segment of language can never be based on anything except its noncoincidence with the rest” (Saussure 68).
The above quotation may also be used as a particularly good illustration of Saussure’s idea of sign, signified and signifier. In his work on linguistics, Saussure states that language is “a system of signs in which the only essential thing is the union of meanings and sound-images” (59). A “sign” as it is related to language-a “linguistic sign”-is composed of two parts, the “understanding,” or the abstract meaning of a word, and the “sound-image,” which does not refer to the auditory sound associated with the vocalization of the word, but rather the “psychological imprint of the sound, the impression that it makes on our senses” (61). For purposes of clarification, the section of the sign called the concept is also known as the “signified,” and the portion called the sound-image is also known as the “signifier” (62).
To more concretely illustrate this idea, one may look at the words “spring,” and “summer” from the quotation above. The word “spring” is, based on Saussure’s work, the linguistic sign, level-headed of the meaning associated with the term “spring”-the signified-which is constituted in language, and our abstract interpretation of the sign-the signifier-which involves the “inner image” that one may “study” in one’s mind when they hear or mediate about the term “spring” (60-61). With regard to the “signified” aspect of spring, we can look to its synonyms, which include blackberry winter, seedtime, springtide, springtime, and the vernal season, among others (“spring.”). Even translations of the word “spring” can approach into play with regard to this portion of the linguistic sign (such as printemps, in French). The signifier associated with “spring” is not only more abstract, but is also somewhat dependent upon the person in question and what they associate with “spring” in their mind (flowers, spring showers, sunshine, green grass, blooming trees, etc.)
In addition to illustrating several other of Saussure’s ideas, the above quotation also discusses the arbitrary nature of the map in which we name and define the four seasons of the year, or the arbitrary nature of language and the linguistic sign. Saussure also focused on this belief as part of his theories on linguistics. He asserted that:
The bond between the signified and the signifier is arbitrary. Since I mean by sign the whole that results from the associating of the signifier with the signified, I can simply say: the linguistic sign is arbitrary. (Saussure 62)
The idea that the year is continuously changing and could therefore be broken up into any number of seasons-as the quote points out, “Why not have six seasons, or eight? “- very clearly illustrates Saussure’s concept of the arbitrary nature of all linguistic signs. The idea of “spring” is not linked by any inner relationship to the monosyllabic phonetic sound of the word, “sprÄng,” its English-language signifier. The fact that, theoretically, the same exact signified is associated with the French word printemps serves to emphasize the arbitrary nature of the linguistic sign.
As is evident from the arguments above, the provided quotation about the seasons of the year is an excellent resource for examining several of Saussure’s theories, including his idea of the sign, signified, and signifier, his conception of the arbitrary nature of the linguistic sign, and also his theory on the meaning of signs as determined by their difference from other signs within the same representational system. Works Cited
De Saussure, Ferdinand, “Course in General Linguistics” in Literary Theory: An Athology, Second Edition, Julie Rivkin and Michael Ryan, eds. Oxford, England: Blackwell Publishing Ltd., 2004.
“spring.” Roget’s New Millennium Thesaurus, First Edition. Lexico Publishing Group, LLC. 05 Mar. 2007. http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/spring>.
“spring, n.1,” OED Online. June 2003. Oxford University Press. 05 Mar. 2007 .
“summer, n.1,” OED Online. June 2003. Oxford University Press. 05 Mar. 2007 .
Site Posts Feed