The "Non-Privileging" Of Either Level Of Symbolic Abstraction

Martin (2013: 3):

Blogger Comments:

[1] This is misleading. To be clear, the dual labelling is Saussure's concept of the sign, not Martin's "non-privileging" of one label over the other.

[2] To be clear, in terms of Saussure's sign, each of these choices is the pairing of a concept (signified) with sound-image (signifier). In SFL terms, this is pairing of a meaning with the phonological expression of a word:

• the meaning 'stop' with the phoneme string /rɛd/,
• the meaning 'speed up' with the phoneme string /yɛlow/
• the meaning 'go' with the phoneme string /ɡri:n/

Importantly, Martin's system gives no indication as to whether each signified and signifier is meaning, wording, or a graphological expression of wording.

[3] To be clear, these misunderstandings are not fostered by the privileging of one term over the other. The misunderstanding that Saussure identified was that a sign was the pairing of a name with a thing, which Martin did not identify 'above'. Martin instead claimed that the view that Saussure "struggled against" was the view that a sign was the pairing of a concept with a symbol. Here he has replaced 'symbol' with 'sign'. Importantly, the signified of a sign is indeed a concept.