Saussure, one of the fathers of 20th century linguistics, said:” The linguist must take the study of linguistic structure as his primary concern and relate all other manifestations of language.” Language is a social product passively assimilated by the individual. Saussure raised the idea of setting up a science that studies the life of signs within society –semiology. Language is a part of the general science of semiology, it’s not a process of naming those ready-made ideas, but a system of signs that express ideas, the essential part of all similar systems.

The linguistic unit (sign) is a double entity formed by the associating of two psychological systems –a concept (signified) and a sound-image (signifier). The concept is abstract, the sound-image is sensory, language signs are inevitably psychological. All the information and signification expressed by signs only exist in the mind of language users. And we can summarize the other characteristics of language: it is a social side of speech, its social nature is inherent; it could be studied separately; language, as well as language sings, is concrete and changeable. Saussure proposed to retain the word sign to designate the sound-image, the concept and the word.

The sign has two principles: Principle I is arbitrary nature. One signified could have many signifier in different languages; signifier is unmotivated, the connection between signified and signifier is arbitrary. Even though Onomatopoeia and Interjections could be raised as objections to Principle I, Principle I still dominate all the linguistics of language and its consequences are numberless. Principle II is linear nature. Although sometimes this principle is not obvious, it’s fundamental and its consequences are incalculable. The signifiers have at their command only the dimension of time. Their elements are presented in succession; they form a chain.

Then Saussure spoke of synchrony and diachrony that designate respectively a language-state and an evolutionary phase. Synchrony has both the autonomy and the interdependence, through a comparison between the functioning of language and a game of chess, we found each linguistic term derives its value from its opposition to all the other terms; values depend above all else on an unchangeable convention in the changing system. Studying the language from the viewpoint of language-state, synchrony is more important than diachrony because of its reality.

Linguistic value is doubtless one element in signification. We all know the concept is the counterpart of the sound-image, however, sign itself is the counterpart of the other signs of language, since language is a system of interdependence, terms in which the value of each term results solely from the simultaneous presence of the others. To solve this paradox, we can exchange a dissimilar thing for the thing of which the value is determined or compare the similar value of the same system with the thing. So word can be exchanged to a different idea or another word. The value of term is accordingly determined by its environment. The concept is only a value determined by its relations with other similar values. Both the conceptual and the material sides of value are made up of relations and differences with respect to the other terms of language. For example, phonic differences have their signification, signs function not through their intrinsic value but through their relative position, even lots of linguistic signs changed in the history, their value didn’t change.

The linguistic signifier is constituted not by its material substance but by the differences that separate its sound-image from all others. Although the pronunciations of two phonemes are same, they could be taken as the same, they have different meanings and values. The signs used in writing are arbitrary, the value of letters is negative, differential, values function only through reciprocal opposition within a fixed system that consists of a set number of letters, the sign doesn’t affect the system at all, it still have the same signification.

Saussure’s ideas laid a foundation for the development of linguistics, I noticed that it’s important and meaningful to compare the similarities and distinctions between different languages and to study their structures. However, Saussure’s opinions may have epochal character and limitations, as he said, “Changes in the system are unintentional and fortuitous”, we should develop a more comprehensive research on linguistics.