The Arbitrary Nature of the Sign: From Amorphous Mass to Meaning
Introduction In his lecture on June 30th, 1911, Ferdinand de Saussure discussed the concept of the linguistic sign, a dual-sided psychological entity comprising the signifier and the signified. He explored how the value of a sign is determined not only by this internal relationship but also by its interactions with neighboring terms within the language system. These relationships form a network of syntagmatic (in praesentia) and associative (in absentia) relations, making it clear that understanding a sign in isolation is insufficient. A few days later, on July 4th, 1911, Saussure revisited this topic from the “proper perspective.” He emphasized the necessity of starting the analysis from the linguistic system as a whole rather than from individual signs. His originality in this respect seems to have passed unnoticed by most poststructuralists, including Jacques Derrida, who tried to frame him within the Western metaphysical tradition, c asting doubt on how closely they read Saussu...