Evan Pantazis de Saussure

"Language can also be compared with a sheet of paper: thought is the front and the sound the back; one cannot cut the front without cutting the back at the same time; likewise in language, one can neither divide sound from thought nor thought from sound; the division could be accomplished only abstractedly, and the result would be either pure psychology or pure phonology." (de Saussure 6) When reading this passage I couldn't help but to think of a Stop sign. The sign alone is simply a solid red octagon with a thin white boarder; without words it signifies nothing, evokes no emotions, nor does it serve any purpose. Conversely it would be almost impossible to put the word "stop" on the street to accurately signify that a driver was to stop. However, when the two are combined, both the language, or sound in this case, and the thought, a we psychologically are engrained to know that we should stop. "The arbitrary nature of the sign explains in turn why the social fact alone can create a linguistic system." (de Saussure 6) It is a concept of Yin and Yang. There cannot be meaning without the combination of the two entities, moreover they are virtually useless and meaningless when they stand alone. It is also an example of the signified and the signifier. "Language is a system of interdependent terms in which the value of each term results solely from the simultaneous presence of the others..." (de Saussure 7)