Saussure
Alright so I thought this reading was actually one of my favorite ones so far and I felt that I understood it more than some of the others. Maybe it was just because there were some pictures to hold my attention or something, that was a nice change! I thought this section was so interesting because I liked how Saussure focused on the idea of language and speech almost being two different ideas. This brings about his idea of semiology which I also found very fascinating. Although there are usually a million things that I have to question after reading, I didn’t find anything that was too confusing, so, moving onto the more interesting stuff. One part that I found really neat was on page 963 in the last paragraph. Saussure explains how “the psychological character of our sound-images becomes apparent when we obserce our own speech. Without moving out lips or tongue, we can talk to ourselves or recite mentally a selection of verse.” I don’t really have an explanation for this, when I read it I was pretty much just fascinated with the whole idea and at the same time it kinda freaked me out a little bit. Another part that I found pretty interesting was on page 967. Saussure describes that without sounds, we can’t make a clear distinction between two things. On the same page, he then talks about articulus which is explained as “an idea is fixed in a sound and the sign becomes the sign of an idea.” Although sounds are definitely a big part or our speech and language, I never really thought about a sign becoming a sign? The example that he uses on page 967 really explains this idea. “Language can also be compared with a sheet of paper: thought is the front and 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 abstractly, and the result would be either pure psychology of pure phonology.” I kind of think this speaks for itself. When I thought about it, its totally true. I saw it as, being able to think, but not being able to think without hearing yourself kind of? I think that’s what I’m trying to say haha, all in all, I thought this reading was really interesting. This doesn’t really make as much sense as I wanted it to, shucks.
