DISTINCTION BETWEEN SIGNIFIER AND SIGNIFIED

INTRODUCTION

Saussure took the sign as the organizing concept for linguistic structure, using it to express the conventional nature of language in the phrase "l'arbitraire du signe". This has the effect of highlighting what is, in fact, the one point of arbitrariness in the system, namely the phonological shape of words, and hence allows the non-arbitrariness of the rest to emerge with greater clarity. An example of something that is distinctly non-arbitrary is the way different kinds of meaning in language are expressed by different kinds of grammatical structure, as appears when linguistic structure is interpreted in functional terms.

WHAT IS STRUCTURALISM?

Structuralism is the name that is given to a wide range of discourses that study underlying structures of signification. Signification occurs wherever there is a meaningful event or in the practice of some meaningful action. Hence the phrase, "signifying practices." A meaningful event might include any of following: writing or reading a text; getting married; having a discussion over a cup of coffee; a battle. Most (if not all) meaningful events involve either a document or an exchange that can be documented. This would be called a "text." Texts might include any of the following: news broadcast; an advertisement; an edition of Shakespeare’s King Lear; the manual for my new washing machine; the wedding vows; a feature film. From the point of view of structuralism all texts, all meaningful events and all signifying practices can be analyzed for their underlying structures. Such an analysis would reveal the patterns that characterize the system that makes such texts and practices possible. We cannot see a structure or a system per se. In fact it would be very awkward for us if we were aware at all times of the structures that make our signifying practices possible. Rather they remain unconscious but necessary aspects of our whole way of being what we are. Structuralism therefore promises to offer insights into what makes us the way we are.

THE SIGN (LINGUISTICS)

A linguistic sign is a part of language used to indicate a being. Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure created the classic model of linguistic signs, where a sign comprises an arbitrary, bilateral relation between a signified and signifier. The model has been criticized and other model has been proposed.

There are many models of the linguistic sign. A classic model is the one by the Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure. According to him, language is made up of signs and every sign has two sides (like a coin or a sheet of paper, both sides of which are inseparable).

DISTINCTION BETWEEN SIGNIFIER AND SIGNIFIED

De Saussure divides the sign into its two aspects. First there’s the bit that you can see or hear. Actually you can imagine signs that are accessible to each of the senses. The laboratory technicians at Chanel, for instance, have an acute receptivity to the smallest nuanced difference between scents. In this case they are literally "readers" or "interpreters" of scent in so far as they are able to identify minute differences. So if you can see, hear, touch, taste or smell it you can probably interpret it and it is likely to have some meaning for you. Audible and visible signs have priority for Saussure because they are the types of sign that make up most of our known languages. Such signs are called "verbal" signs (from the Latin verba meaning "word").

The signifier is a sign or symbol that can stand for something else. By definition all words are signifiers since they always stand for something else (e.g. a through, a feeling, or a thing). A signifier is used by the person wanting to communicate.

The signified is what the sign or symbol represents i.e what it is interpreted to mean by the receiver of communication.

Signifier                                                               signified

 Red                                                            to stop or danger

Heart                                                                    a symbol of love and Affection

Brown Cross                                                        a symbol of Christianity

Blue                                                                      a colour often associated with                                                                sadness or the sea

Smoke                                                                  an index of fire

CONCLUSION

The signifier as the form that the sign takes and the signified as the concept to which it refers" A crucial point about these two components is they are arbitrary. In other words, "there is no logical connection" between them. This differs from a symbol, which is "never wholly arbitrary". The idea that both the signifier and the signified are inseparable is explained by Saussure's diagram, which shows how both components coincide to create the sign.