"Signifide" (signifie): For Saussure, the "signified" was one part of the "sign". Saussure's "signified" is the mental concept represented by the signifier (and is not a material thing). "Signify" (signifiant): For Saussure, this was the other part of the "sign". In the Saussurean tradition, the "sign"is the form which a "sign" takes. Ferdinand de Saussre proposed that a word or or "sign" links a concept ("signifide) with a sound or image ("signifier). The relationship between the "signifide" and "signifier" is arbitrary. Words or "signs" are merely arbitrary man-made concepts. "signs" on their own have no meaning. A "sign" only has meaning as part of a system (structure). The meaning of words or "signs" emerges out of the differences that set them apart from other "signs" within the overarching systems/structure. Modern semiotics involves the study not only of what we refer to as "signs" in every day speech, but of anything which stands for something else. In a semiotic sense, "signs" take the form of words, images, sounds, gestures and objects. Contemporary semioticians study signs not in isloation but as part of semiotic sign systems (such as medium or genre). They study how meanings are made: as such, being concerned not only with communication but with also the construction and maintenance of reality. Semiotics and that branch of linguistics known as semantics have a common concern with the meaning of signs, but whereas semantics focusses on what words mean, semiotics is concerned with how signs mean.
Examples
When you see this logo
You think of this
Not necessarily this
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