language, langue,
and parole (1)
Saussure focuses on what he calls language, that is "a
system of signs that
express ideas," and suggests that it may be divided into two components: langue, referring to the abstract system of
language that is internalized by a given speech community, and parole, the individual acts of speech and
the "putting into practice of language".
While speech (parole) is heterogeneous, that is to say composed of
unrelated or differing parts or elements, language (langue) is homogeneous, composed of the union of meanings
and sound images in which both parts are psychological. Therefore, as langue is
systematic, it is this that Saussure focuses on since it allows an
investigative methodology that is
rooted, supposedly, in pure science. Beginning with the
Greek word ‘semîon’ meaning sign’, Saussure names this science semiology: ‘a science that studies the life of
signs within society’.
A popular view of language is that it is a natural organism, that grows and evolves in accordance
with fixed laws and is not
determinable by the will of humans. Saussure argued against that organicist view of language. Instead, he defined
language as a social product, the social side of speech being beyond the control of
the speaker. According to Saussure, language is not a function of the speaker,
but is passively assimilated. Speaking, as defined by Saussure, is a
premeditated act.