Saussure: signified and signifier

The Linguistic sign it is the smallest meaningful unit in human communication and therefore is tremendously important when using language. One of the greatest scholars of this linguistic sign and its peculiarities was Ferdinand Saussure. This 19th century linguist was the first to consider this subject as a Science and his treatises and theories have survived to this day thanks to his General Linguistics Course. In this lesson from a TEACHER we are going to focus on the Saussure's theory of signifier and signified with some examples.

In the first place, and before proceeding to make a definition of the signifier and the signified according to Saussure, we want to establish a series of brushstrokes on his life. This author focused on the study of Linguistics as Science and he published posthumously what would be the most important work on this subject in the world General Linguistics Course in the year 1916. Within it, his study methods and his hypothesis based on dichotomies stand out, among which those of speech and language stand out among others.

He also dedicated much of his life to study of the linguistic sign and this is an essential part of his work already mentioned. Although he was not the only one to perform an analysis of it, the truth is that his teachings are still in force nowadays and they are the most used.

Therefore, and in order to understand what the signifier and the signified according to Saussure we must indicate what his vision of the sign was and how he defined it. Thus, we can point out that for this author, linguistic signs are words and that all of them have two components, one material and another purely mental concept. Both would be the ones that would shape the sign.

In order to be able to distinguish and define them correctly, Saussure named these parts of the linguistic sign as signifier and signified. These are irretrievably linked by a arbitrary link, that is, it has been artificially created by man and has nothing to do with the reality that is being shown. In other words, any word, seen visually or read, has little to do with the real image to which they refer. Therefore, the link between the two does not follow any logical parameter.

Therefore, now that we know that linguistic signs Are composed of two parts joined together arbitrarily, we can focus on defining what each of them are, following the theories collected by Saussure in his General Course of Grammar.

• The signifier it is the acoustic image of the concept or idea that you want to express, but it is not the sound. In other words, the signifier is the acoustic representation that our brain makes the chain of sounds that we hear when a word is pronounced. In the event that it appears written, an image of this type is also produced, since when we read it the sound of the word is generated in our head without the need to produce any type of alteration acoustics.
• For his part, meaning, is the psychic representation that our brain makes of that acoustic image produced by the signifier. For Saussure, the meaning is the idea that we make up in our head after having heard or read the word. This does not have to correspond one hundred percent to the real object, but to the idea that the person who perceives it has of it.

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The concepts of signifier and signified according to Saussure, can be somewhat complex, but we are going to propose a series of examples so that you can identify and distinguish them clearly.

Let's focus on the word home. This is formed by a chain of different sounds that make up the linguistic sign: /k/a/s/a. These in turn have a meaning and a significant of their own.

The signifier, it would be the word itself home, that is, the acoustic image that is created in our head when we see it written or listen to it. This has little to do with reality since physically it does not resemble a real house at all.

For its part, the meaning of the word house would be the mental idea that the brain shapes in each one of us of what a house is. For each person it will have a series of nuances and meanings and each one can imagine it in a different way: it can be a block of flats, a house with a chimney, brick, wood… etc.

If you want to continue learning more about different theories such as Saussure's on signifier and signified and some examples, visit our section on Grammar and Linguistics in which you will find more articles like this. We hope that it has helped you to expand your knowledge and to better understand what is the difference between meaning and signifier according to the father of Linguistics as it is today we know.

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Saussure, Ferdinand, General linguistics course. Selection of texts