Not sau ssure about that...
Matt Kozusko (mkozusko@parallel.park.uga.edu)
Tue, 26 Oct 1999 23:45:00 -0500
erespess@inil.com wrote:
> Although differentiation is important in language, arguably essential, it
> is not the only essential element. Differentiation without association has
> no meaning.
Interesting you bring this up. Saussure addresses this very matter of
association at some length. He says that values always involve two
things: 1) a *dissimilar* thing that can be exchanged for the item
the value of which is under consideration, and 2) a *similar* thing
that can be compared to the item the value of which is under
consideration. More on this when I get home, but I think he uses the
example of a coin and the amount of break it could buy. The coin has
value because 1) it can be exchanged for bread and 2) it can be
compared to other coins for relative value. In the interest of not
bungling So-sure further, I'll leave it at that for now (I got a
little too much chlorine at the pool tonight, I fear, and then I ate a
box of Little Debbie's snake cakes, all in one sitting, and
now...well, I think that says it all).
--
Matt Kozusko mkozusko@parallel.park.uga.edu