Editing Course in General Linguistics (section)

==The sign==

The focus of Saussure's investigation is the linguistic unit or sign.

The [[Sign (semiotics)|sign]] (''signe'') is described as a "double entity", made up of the signifier, or sound pattern (referred to by Saussure as a 'signal'), and the signified, or concept (referred to by Saussure as 'signification'). The sound pattern is a psychological<!-- or mental? -->, '''not''' a material concept, belonging to the system. Both components of the linguistic sign are inseparable. One way to appreciate this is to think of them as being like either side of a piece of paper – one side simply cannot exist without the other.

The relationship between signifier and signified is, however, not quite that simple. Saussure is adamant that language cannot be considered a collection of names for a collection of objects (as it is in the conception that [[Adam (Bible)|Adam]] named the animals, for example). According to Saussure, language is not a nomenclature. Indeed, the basic insight of Saussure's thought is that denotation, the reference to objects in some [[universe of discourse]], is mediated by system-internal relations of difference.