A linguistic system is a series of differences of sound combined with a series of differences of ideas...
Ferdinand De SaussureRead
Any psychology of sign systems will be part of social psychology - that is to say, will be exclusively social; it will involve the same psychology as is applicable in the case of languages.
Interpretation
The study of signs in psychology is inherently social and parallels linguistic psychology.
Ferdinand De Saussure emphasizes that any exploration of how signs function in psychology must take into account their social context. Just as the structure of languages is social, the psychology that arises from sign systems, which communicate meaning and information within a community, is also shaped by social interactions and norms.
In practice
In a lecture about linguistics, one might quote Saussure to illustrate the social dimensions of language.
A linguistic system is a series of differences of sound combined with a series of differences of ideas...
Linguistics will have to recognise laws operating universally in language, and in a strictly rational manner, separating general phenomena from those restricted to one branch of languages or another.
Psychologically our thought-apart from its expression in words-is only a shapeless and indistinct mass.
Written forms obscure our view of language. They are not so much a garment as a disguise.
Speech has both an individual and a social side, and we cannot conceive of one without the other.
Everyone, left to his own devices, forms an idea about what goes on in language which is very far from the truth.
We who defend Christianity find ourselves constantly opposed not by the irreligion of our headers but by their real religion.
Clearly, then, the city is not a concrete jungle, it is a human zoo.
What kind of people do they [the Japanese] think we are?
A man's intentions should be allowed in some respects to plead for his actions.
Where do vanished objects go?" "Into nonbeing, which is to say, everything," replied Professor McGonagall. "Nicely phrased," replied the eagle door knocker, and the door swung open.
Even for those to whom life and death are equal jests. There are some things that are still held in respect.
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