After a few rereads of the initial paragraphs, I realized that I had forgotten a lot more than I initially thought. Although some of it brought back faint memories, most of it seemed like a foreign language to me.
Within the first pages, De Saussure goes on to explain the connections that several people make depending on their own societal experiences and correlations. Within these communities, a string of words can have a unique meaning when compared to another community. "If words stood for pre-existing concepts, they would all have exact equivalents in meaning from one language to the next; but this is not true" (De Saussure 2012, 8). Without having to even change languages, Saussure goes on to explain how linguistics are tied in to ideas and these ideas can vary greatly.
De Saussure goes on to talk about how despite the differences, the same phonetic sounds can unite people. His look at linguistics and his interpretation of the subject had me rereading over and over again as I tried to grasp the concepts. Hopefully I will be able to revisit the reading when I am better equipped.
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