sau-sure of it

"The connection between the signifier and the signified is arbitrary."

[ferdinand-saussure]

respectfully king, I do not think you have ever seen a tree in your life, but go off i guess

I am confident that my tree is more up to artistic standards than one that your mother can construct.

[ferdinand-saussure]

All that discussion on langue and parole had me remembering the days of signifier and signified, and now isn’t that quite the treat! One of the contributing aspects of Semiotics, distinguishing a sign’s signifier and it’s respective signified helps one understand the context of the ideas and constructs! 

As seen above, we assign the “signifier” role to a word, whereas the “signified” is the target of that word’s intent. This creates a sign that is in turn used in Semiotics! Truly Fascinating!

Now this doesn’t just pertain to objects in which we can see or touch! Take colors for example! We see different colors and in turn we attribute different emotions to these colors! Red is angry or infatuation, blue is melancholy, yellow is happy, the list goes on and on! 

We smell gasoline or smoke and attribute it to danger, we see a skull and crossbones and we assume death, we see a traffic light (that is what they are called, is it not? The rectangles of green, red, and yellow flame?) and we assume different actions to the flame that is alight. 

Even more fascinating is that this construct can be seen as early as youths! You teach a mere child the word for “kitty” with a picture of a small feline friend, and suddenly all members of the feline family are referred to as “kitty” until learned otherwise! Even felines as big and ferocious as lions are cast as “kitty”! 

Remarkable!

[ferdinand-saussure]

this man has the biggest fire sign energy I have ever seen based on his text posts alone

I do not understand??

[ferdinand-saussure]

[ferdinand-saussure]

Hey, just wondering if you had any tips on remembering the whole "langue" and "parole" dynamics, considering you kinda came up with the whole idea. I have an exam on it coming up on it for Linguistics (thanks a lot for that) and was wondering if I was completely out of luck or not! Btw, that was a horrible drawing of a tree, king.

Ah yes, langue and parole! How could I forget such a linguistic dynamic, as you said, I came up with it! Now language has such a tricky and complex relationship with Linguistics, so I decided to study it as a whole instead of a focusing on a singular language! Impressive, is it not?

Now, let us break down the two terms as singular units. "Langue," is more internalized of the two, focusing on a language's grammar, sound system, and vocabulary within a community. Langue focuses on societal communication, as after all, it means "language" in French!

"Parole," follows a more individual approach of the two. Where Langue focuses on a structure based on society, Parole focuses on an individual's speech! This fits immensely, does it not, for "parole" means "speaking" in French! How I humor myself!

But if you are still confused by the time of your exam, do remember my analogy to the game of chess! Langue is the overall rules of the game, or the set "normal" for playing the game, whereas the individual's moves within the game's rules serves as the parole!

The two constructs are heavily intertwined within each other, for the study of langue comes from the perspective of parole, so I do hope you study this in time for your test.

[ferdinand-saussure]

Awaking to find your private journal on display within a certain museum is not far from preposterous, but nonetheless I am pleased that they have chosen such a pristine display of my artistic skills. This page, if my memory proves me correct, follows my discovery of Semiotics, a study of signs and the messages they convey. Yes, that’s correct! A universal language that requires a different kind of interpretation, one that doesn’t rely solely on the foundation of sound! Exquisite, really, to see a formation of symbols and their interpreted meaning that can be constructed based on words, images, tastes, odors, you name it! To think that if one where to attribute significance to one of these, it automatically becomes a sign of importance! I do think my good acquaintance, Charles Peirce, says it best, “Nothing is a sign unless it is interpreted as a sign.”

It’s all quite fascinating, don't you think?