Return to Saussure

Introduction: The Problem of Linguistic Privilege Saussure's theory of signs contains a tension that would shape much of twentieth-century semiotic thought. In the Course in General Linguistics , he introduces semiology as a general science of signs within which linguistics would constitute only one branch. Language belongs to a larger field that includes writing, symbolic rites, forms of politeness, military signals, and other systems of signification. Yet Saussure also grants language a unique status. Among all these systems, linguistics is not merely one example among others; it is, he writes, "the most important of such systems." This qualification raises a fundamental question: how can language be both one sign system among others and the privileged model through which other signs become intelligible? This tension became increasingly visible in later semiotic theory. Barthes and Hjelmslev moved beyond Saussure's original formulation by suggesting, in diff...