The Sign (linguistics) reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Jul-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

Sign (linguistics)

In general linguistics Ferdinand de Saussure described a sign as a combination of a concept and a sound-image. A sound image is something mental as it is possible to talk to oneself without actually moving the lips. But normally the sound-images are used to produce an utterance.

So a sign consists of

• a concept - respectivly the signified (signifié)
• a sound-image - respectivly the signifier (signifiant), or phonological form in generative terms..

Source:

Ferdinand de Saussure, Course in General Linguistics; Part One - General principles; chapter Nature of the Linguistics Sign

This is the "Sign (linguistics)" reference article from the English Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. See also our Disclaimer.