Saussure and the issue of reference in the language

Author(s)

Karen Alves da Silva

• Document type: Master's Dissertation
• Institution: Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Instituto de Estudos da Linguagem
• Defense date: 2008-07-08

Examining board members

Eduardo Roberto Junqueira Guimarães; Eliane Mara Silveira

• Advisor: Maria Fausta Cajahyba Pereira de Castro

Abstract

If for language studies prior to Saussure the sign was established by an asymmetrical relation of representation - A represents B, and B does not need to represent A, for the Genevan, however, the linguistic sign is the result of a relation of reciprocal association between signified and signifier: A is associated with a B, and this implies that B is associated with an A (cf. Milner, 2002, p. 27). This displacement of asymmetrical representation to reciprocal association was an important innovation brought by Saussure. Therefore, unlike the contemporary studies, his theory could abdicate from any commitment to the form of material things (the conjuncture) in order to hold strictly to linguistic relations. Thus, as the material object would not be covered by Saussurian theory, the issue of reference would not appear: the supposed linkage between language and the material world would not pose a problem for Saussure. According to Bouquet (1992), however, the Genevan's manuscripts enable us to discover a Saussure that, when dealing with the relations of language to objects, pointed out a third term in relation to the sign. In fact, Saussure himself, at least once, evoked the triadic model of sign to deal with proper and geographical names. Moreover, in another manuscript, the master questioned himself about the fact that it is intrinsic to the functioning of languages to establish a connection to the world, and that the apparent solution to this conflict is to state that naming approaches the objects obliquely. On the one hand, we would have the joints concerning the language and, on the other, the possibility that the reference emerges at the theory. Facing this apparent dichotomy, we are drawn to question ourselves if the issue of reference would be related to the "reverberation" of material objects in the theory of the Genevan. (AU)