Page 65 - Decoding Culture

58 DECODING CULTURE

(conventional) relations with each other. As Saussure understands
it, the sign is not simply an isolated and arbitrary combination of
sound and concept. It takes on what he calls 'linguistic value' in
consequence of its position in the system of which it is a part just
as, in a comparison of which he is fond, the pieces in chess take on
their value in consequence not of some individual character that
they bring to the system but because of their position within the
system. A knight, he points out, could be replaced by any material
object, since its value in the game, its identity, is not a consequence
of its physical character but of its position in relation to other chess
pieces and to the conventions which constitute the game (ibid:
108-109) . So it is with language. The linguistic value of a word, for
instance, depends in a given language on the words which express
'neighbouring ideas'. He takes as an instance the French word
mouton and the English word sheep which, although taken as mutu­
ally translatable, have different linguistic values (ibid: 1 1 4) . In
English there is the separate word mutton for the cooked meat of
the animal, whereas in French mouton encompasses both the beast
and the meat. The difference in value of mouton and sheep, then,
flows from the difference of positioning of the words in their
respective systems - they are defined by comparison with other
contiguous terms. As he puts it, perhaps somewhat rhetorically:
' [ i ln the language itself, there are only differences' (ibid: 1 1 8) . And
it is the whole system of differences that defines its component ele­
ments; not the component elements that define the system.
Significatory units are defined relationally.
This central concern with relations - ' [ O n a linguistic state,
-
then, everything depends on relations' (ibid: 121) l eads Saussure
to yet another of his influential distinctions. He differentiates
between what he terms syntagmatic and associative aspects of the
relations between linguistic units. A syntagma (syntagme) is a
sequenced combination in which the units follow each other in a

Copyrighted Material