Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913), the Swiss linguist whose ideas laid the foundation for many significant developments in linguistics in the twentieth century, introduced the notion of ‘sign’ in his book Course in General Linguistics in 1916.
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According to Saussure, language is a system of signs that express ideas, and it operates on two levels - langue and parole.23 Parole refers to an individual ‘act of speech’, whereas la Langue is the pre-existing system of rules and conventions that makes this act possible. Originating in the circuit of phonation and audition - sound-making and sound-hearing, human speech has significances in both a social and an individual sense. Distinguished from an act of speech, the language system is ‘both a social product of the faculty of speech and a collection of necessary conventions that have been adopted by a social body to permit individuals to exercise that faculty’.24 In other words, language is established on the grounds of the standard social conventions of la langue and the individual execution of la parole. For instance, the action of speaking and the action of writing within a social context cause the language system to evolve into a medium for the expression of ideas. La langue and la parole are interdependent terms, where the former is both the instrument and the product of the latter.25
The work of Saussure on linguistics contributes significantly to the emergence of Structuralism. Focusing on the way that human experience and behavior were determined by various structures without considering of social context and individual will and choice, the movement of Structuralism rose to prominence in France in its wake in the 1960s. Influenced by Saussure, Roland Barthes (1915-1980), a French literary theorist, philosopher, critic, and semiotician, embarked on how Structuralism could be applied to literature. Published in 1964, the knowledge of ‘language’ was further developed in Elements of Semiology, another influential reference in twentieth century linguistics. Written by Barthes, each linguistic sign is classified by ‘the
signifier’ and ‘the signified’ instead of ‘langue’ and ‘parole’ in order to explain the
relationship between language and human sciences.
23
Bally, Charles, Albert Sechehaye and Albert Reidllinger, eds. Ferdinand de Saussure: Course in General Linguistics, translated from the French by Wade Baskin, London: Peter Owen, 1960, p. 16.
24
ibid., p. 9.
25
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According to Barthes, within the sign, the signified is not the thing itself, but rather the mental representation of the thing. It is the sound-image in humans’ minds. The signifier is thus the material representation of the signified. For instance, when a human wants to express a ‘tree’, the image of the tree or the abstract word of the ‘tree’ would appear in his mind first, and then he would express it either in speaking ‘|tri:|’ or with the word ‘tree’. Although, clearly, different cultures have different pronunciations and words to represent ‘tree’; however, the fundamental meanings of the tree remains the same regardless of how the material representation varies.
Except for the composition of individual signs, with reference to Saussure, the system of signs could be developed into two planes; the syntagmatic plane and the systematic plane within which the syntagmatic plane is a combination of signs, and the systematic plane is the associated plane. Saussure theorised that the applications of these two planes were explained by Barthes through the use of examples of social systems such as garment system, food system, furniture system and architecture system.
Regarded as a sign by Barthes, the syntagmatic plane of architecture is the whole presentation of each level of the building, such as the ground floor, first floor and so on; the systematic plane then refers to the variations of each single element such as windows, railings, floors and so on.
With regard to the meaning of the sign, there are also two planes in relation to the signified and the signifier which are the plane of expression (E) and the plane of the content (C). Therefore, there are two alternations of signs within different arrangements of the two planes. These two alternations are called denotation and connotation. In the first case, the meaning of a sign is regarded as the denotation plane of the expression plane of another sign. In the second case, the meaning of a sign is regarded as the denotation plane of the content plane of another sign. Taking as an example an architecture column, the functional meaning of column could be regarded as sustaining or decorating. Therefore, regardless of whether a column has a sustaining
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purpose or a decorating purpose, they both could be regarded as the denotation plane of the expression plane of the architectural column. If however these columns were made of different materials, such as steel or marble, they could then only be regarded as the denotation plane of the content plane of the architecture column. With reference to Barthes,
the connoted system is a system whose plane of expression is itself constituted by a signifying system: the common cases of connotation will of course consist of complex systems of which language forms the first system (this is, for instance, the case with literature).26
In regard to the example, in the first case, the connoted system refers to the functional meaning of the standing column or the decorating column constituted the signifying system of the architecture column. The second case, for Barthes, is the system of metalanguage ‘whose plane of content is itself constituted by a signifying system.’27 Therefore, the system of metalanguage stands for humans’ development of the language rather than innovation of the meanings. Regardless of what the material or the style of the column is, the meanings relied on the origin rather than the later development. Hence, regarded as a sign, the meanings of each architectural element are established on the grounds of the first system of connotations, from which each architectural element originated and was endowed with meanings. The development of architecture in later times could only be regarded as the construction of denoted elements.
In the introduction to hermeneutics that follows, the limitations of the semiotic model of interpretation will be considered in relation to textual interpretation. Besides, the idea that architecture can be regarded as a linguistic sign will also be questioned by considering alternative understandings of narrative meaning, while introducing the specific topic of museum architecture.
26
Barthes, Roland. Elements of Semiolog, translated from the French by Annette Lavers and Colin Smith, New York: Hill & Wang Publisher, 1977, p. 89.
27
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