Martin (2013: 5-6):
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This seriously misunderstands both Saussure and Hjelmslev.
For Saussure, it is the sign, signified and signifier, that is 'the borderland where the elements of sounds and thought combine', and so it is the sign where 'linguistics works'. Here Martin has mistaken the substance, sound and thought, for the form, signifier and signified.
Martin's misunderstanding arises from mistaking Saussure's discussion of language as the coupling of thought and sound (substance) for Saussure's discussion of the sign as the coupling of signified and signifier (form), as previously demonstrated at
This misunderstanding becomes more apparent when Hjelmslev's terms are substituted for Saussure's. Here Martin's claim becomes: linguistics is not concerned with content and expression, but with the line that separates these two distinct levels of abstraction.
Less importantly, Martin's coin analogy is potentially misleading, in that it misconstrues 'tails' as signifying 'heads'.
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