About 'Course in General Linguistics' by Ferdinand de Saussure

Essay aus dem Jahr 2010 im Fachbereich Anglistik - Linguistik, , Sprache: Deutsch, Abstract: This article aims at analyzing the relationship of a signifier with its signified. A linguistic sign should not be viewed merely as a static unit in a synchronic system, but also as a dynamic entity in a real social discourse. A massive amount of meanings have been given to each word in dictionaries of world languages, however, every word presents its true meaning in the particular verbal or nonverbal context in which it appears. This is because of the interaction among the members of a society that old lexical items are constantly being replaced by newly coined words. Thus, an individual thing, whether it is a sign/word or a text, achieves value and meaning based on where it is being applied and it is through this active use of living sign that we keep on adapting to an ever changing world.