Circuit Elements, Saussure’s Dichotomies, and Language
Circuit Elements and Parts of Speech
In this circuit, we can differentiate between an inside and an outside. The inside is divided between sender and receiver. We can also distinguish three types of completely mixed facts:
- Physical facts (embodiment of the line).
- Physiological facts (hearing, speech).
- Psychic facts (conceptual aspects).
We also distinguish between active and passive parties. The sender is active, and the receiver is passive. However, the receiver is also active in their own way, although their activity is invisible. Within the active part, everything that is psychic is called executive. The receptive part is called that which is both psychic and passive.
Saussure’s Dichotomies
- Speech is more concrete than language.
- Synchronic vs. Diachronic linguistics.
- External vs. Internal linguistics.
What Do We Mean by Language?
- Synchronic Linguistics: The study of language as it exists at a given time. This allows us to contemplate the system of signs in their relationship.
- Diachronic Linguistics: The study of the facts of language over time. It does not study language as a system.
What is Easier to Study: The Present or the Past of Language?
It is easier to study the present features of languages. The past stages can only be examined through textual legacy, something that not all languages have.
What Do Internal and External Linguistics Study?
- Internal Linguistics: It is interested in language itself. It is interested in the code, its units, and their relationships, outside of any circumstances.
- External Linguistics: Studies language in relation to its users, that is, in its human and social context. It is not interested in the code itself, but in its relation to the speakers.
Explain the Meaning of Complex and Simplex Languages
- Complex: A group of varieties of a language that has become distinctive in that understanding between individuals of different varieties is impossible in a normal conversation without support from another communication system.
- Simplex: Languages whose varieties are so close together that they do not cause difficulties in communication between the various groups.
Difference Between Language and Speech
Language is the code; speech is the activity that can be carried out through the possession of the code. Language is psychic, existing only in the mind, while speech is psychophysical in nature.
Language is social because all speakers share the mental code of signs without revealing differences, but speech is individual, as each speaker, using language, does so in their own way.
According to Saussure, speech is concrete, and language is abstract. For the specific language may only consist of the sum of the brains of each of the speakers who have the language. Since we cannot access this sum, we conclude that language, although concrete, is much less precise than speech.
What Was First, Language or Speech?
Neither can be considered before the other for one simple reason: language is necessary for speech to occur, but speech is needed for language to be established. Therefore, neither can be considered earlier or more important for communication.