TY - JOUR

T1 - “Plus de figures!”

T2 - On Saussure’s use of images

AU - Christensen, Hans Dam

PY - 2016

Y1 - 2016

N2 - In this article, the spotlight is directed towards one of the supposedmodern sinners contributing to the maintenance of the hierarchy betweenword and image, the Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913)and in particular his chief work Cours de lingustique générale, published in1916. Saussure was not explicit about the relation between word andimage, but his work became a cornerstone in the development of modernlinguistics and semiotics as well as later in the breakthrough ofstructuralism in the late 1950s and early 1960s. This article shows thatSaussure was not as hostile to images that posterity seems to deduce fromthe more or less internalized ‘verbocentrism’ of large parts of semiotics andstructuralism. Moreover, and most important, the article makes acontribution to a multifaceted understanding of signifying processes. First,the article presents the origin of Cours de linguistique générale; almostsimultaneously another issue is introduced, namely the number of imagesin this work which goes far beyond the few well-known illustrations.Secondly, these images are heuristically classified, and, due to the origin ofthe book (primarily based on students’ notes), the ownership and presenceof these images are debated. Last, Saussure’s semiotics is touched upon inlight of the use of images in Cours de linguistique générale. Thetheoretical conclusions point to the fact that the making of knowledge isnot imbedded in language (or linguistics), but emerges in a play betweenseveral types of significations. In fact, as in everyday life and Saussure’slectures, communication is complex and the notion of abstracted signsystems (‘language’, etc.) from everyday communication is perhaps tooreductive, as Saussure himself demonstrated by using images in his theoryon linguistics as well as in his lectures.

AB - In this article, the spotlight is directed towards one of the supposedmodern sinners contributing to the maintenance of the hierarchy betweenword and image, the Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913)and in particular his chief work Cours de lingustique générale, published in1916. Saussure was not explicit about the relation between word andimage, but his work became a cornerstone in the development of modernlinguistics and semiotics as well as later in the breakthrough ofstructuralism in the late 1950s and early 1960s. This article shows thatSaussure was not as hostile to images that posterity seems to deduce fromthe more or less internalized ‘verbocentrism’ of large parts of semiotics andstructuralism. Moreover, and most important, the article makes acontribution to a multifaceted understanding of signifying processes. First,the article presents the origin of Cours de linguistique générale; almostsimultaneously another issue is introduced, namely the number of imagesin this work which goes far beyond the few well-known illustrations.Secondly, these images are heuristically classified, and, due to the origin ofthe book (primarily based on students’ notes), the ownership and presenceof these images are debated. Last, Saussure’s semiotics is touched upon inlight of the use of images in Cours de linguistique générale. Thetheoretical conclusions point to the fact that the making of knowledge isnot imbedded in language (or linguistics), but emerges in a play betweenseveral types of significations. In fact, as in everyday life and Saussure’slectures, communication is complex and the notion of abstracted signsystems (‘language’, etc.) from everyday communication is perhaps tooreductive, as Saussure himself demonstrated by using images in his theoryon linguistics as well as in his lectures.

KW - Faculty of Humanities

KW - Saussure

KW - image

KW - Cours de linguistique generale

KW - Saussure

KW - image

KW - illustrations

KW - Cours de linguistique generale

KW - semiotics

KW - knowledge production

KW - signification

U2 - 10.1177/1470357215621886

DO - 10.1177/1470357215621886

M3 - Journal article

VL - 15

SP - 487

EP - 507

JO - Visual Communication

JF - Visual Communication

SN - 1470-3572

IS - 4

ER -