Signs.....

In this reading, it discusses Saussure's original interest in the study of signs was focused around the linguistic attributes of communication, ie literature and the spoken word. The reading also discusses the importance of the signifier and the signified and which, if either, were more important than the other (does the signifier define the signified, or does the signified define the signifier).

The section of this reading I found interesting was the comparison between the French and the English word for sheep. The French word mouton is used to identify both the animal and the meat of the animal, where as in English, we call the animal a sheep, but it becomes mutton when the sheep makes the transfer from animal to food. I guess the same thing can be said for fish. In the English language both the animal and the food are refered to by the same name, fish.