"The characteristic role of language with respect to thought is not to create a material phonic means for expressing ideas but to serve as a link between thought and sound, under conditions that of necessity bring about the reciprocal delimitations of units." (pg 5-6)
Saussure rejected the idea that language was simply something formed by different combinations chosen from a list of words, names, and/or titles. Instead, he suggests that thoughts inside someone's head come from a sort of sound-image relationship that is produced from a psychological part of his or her brain. Signs/values are a crucial part to being able to communicate with language. I think that this line from the reading really sums this idea up:
"Each linguistic term is a member, an articulus in which an idea is fixed in a sound and a sound becomes a sign of an idea." (pg 6)
I thought an interesting point was also made about different languages that we have all around the world and how the different values that each word in a language has can carry different fixed images for different people. The example in the reading deals with the word "sheep" in English and the word, "mouton" in French. I do not see an image of the white fluffy animal when I hear the word "mouton" because I do not speak French and therefore cannot pick the thought from my brain when I hear the word. It means nothing to me, but someone who speaks French would have a specific image to represent it clearly in his or her mind.
Therefore, words are not just transparent. They hold the link between humans and the world of language that surrounds us and allows us to make sense of our place and communication that controls our entire meaning of existence and allows us to make progress. The established signs and values in our cultures are embedded within us and are evoked and set into action by sound though the linguistic nature that unites us.
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