Kayla Salyer, De Saussure 9/11/14

"One can neither divide sound from thought nor thought from sound" (de Saussure 2004, 6). This quote sets up for much of the ideas put forth by de Saussure. From connecting material signs, to their meaning, to connecting thought to language it is interesting to view all of these in our own ways. Although much of this piece, and much of our class talks about the significance between signs and their meanings, I would like to think about the reliability thought has on language, or vise versa. Would there be no thought without the words to express it? These two things seem so very different, yet they are so deeply connected to each other.
Language gives a link between our thought and sound. Without one, the other could not exist. From my own experience, I have been able to touch on this idea very briefly. When I traveled to Germany at 15, I didn't know the language nor the culture. The longer I stayed the more confused my mind seemed to be in a culture in which I didn't speak the language. Every piece of me wanted to think, dream, and speak German, yet I was struggling to pick up the language. As time continued, my mind completely switched to German, yet my mind was limited because my vocabulary was limited. Although this is a very simple example, I think it touches on this idea. We need one to connect to the other.
Moving on to signs and their significance in our world, I find it interesting to look at different things and what they mean to separate people. Yes, we can look at a coin and see first what we can exchange it for, and how it can be compared to others (de Saussure 2004, 8), yet we may also look at what something will mean to each individual and how it can be manipulated to change the audiences view on things. For example, when we were shown the BP Oil symbol in class I actually didn't recognize it. Instead, I saw a bright green, earth-friendly, symbol of light. Although this lasted about 15 seconds before someone said the name and the reality floated back into mind. The symbol that I saw was not of death and destruction of the earth, but the complete opposite. I saw the bright happy colors and it instantly made me the of something good, green, almost innocent.
Looking at this from a different perspective, I think it is interesting to see how easily someones idea of something can be so easily manipulated. Too many times, the true meaning is lost by the manipulation of signs.