MC - Saussure

Reading Ferdinand de Saussure's excerpt from "Course in General Linguistics" felt like analyzing the tiny dots that compose a Seurat piece. Saussure's section on language and sound was extremely difficult to absorb yet incredibly engaging. While speaking and thinking seem simple enough, the process in which we think, speak and translate signs are not.

Saussure attempts to analyze the system in which we put an abstract idea or thought into another abstract form: sound. Sausurre explains that,

Phonic substance is neither more fixed nor more rigid than thought.

This is obvious when one thinks about foreign languages. To the untrained ear, foreign languages merely sound like meaningless gibberish, lacking substance or value. But since Saussure thinks ideas are as abstract as sounds (and I agree with him), how then can you attempt to analyze how they work to create a cohesive sentence?

Saussure presses on anyway with his explanation of the signified/concept, the signifier and the complete sign. His methods are very mathematical; his argument creating an equation that should produce the completed sign. But I'm still stuck on the uncertainty of concepts and signs. Signs, I think, are affected by social opinion and/or commentary and therefore, how can we really rely on the meaning of our language?

When Saussure considers the value of language from a material viewpoint, I am relieved to move on to a more tangible approach. It makes sense to me that the value of the word relies on the differences in sound that convey different meanings. I visualize the game of poker to help me understand Saussure's section: Each card possesses a symbol and holds a specific value. Only a proper composition of the cards can increase their value and produce a winning hand. Essentially, the value of words and sounds can only be determined and developed into substance after composition.

Saussure attempts to end his section with the idea that ultimately,

In language there are only differences.

This notion in itself isn't difficult to swallow. However, it is complex to think how these differences (temporal ones, at that) work to create essence in language and meaning.