If I remember my undergrad Linguistics courses correctly, and it’s been a while, Ferdinand de Saussure wasn’t the originator of defining the arbitrary linguistic relationship between the sign/signified in the West. It was Augustine, most likely via his exposure to Stoic philosophy.
Not many of Saussure’s original theories play much of a role in modern linguistics and its various branches today.
Sounds like you’re digging Nietzsche though. Curious to know how deep is your background in Cognitive Linguistics?
Hey, thanks for your reply. I agree that Linguistics is mostly past Saussure, but I do think that the arbitrary relationship between signifier/signified is useful leaving essentialism behind and moving toward prototype theory.
I've taken graduate courses in Cognitive Linguistics, Psycholinguistics, and Linguistic Anthropology as well as worked with writings of Kövecses, Rosh, and etc.
Have you worked in Cognitive Linguistics? It's always fun to find another nerd. I'm also be curious if you remember what part of Augustine where he discusses this topic.
Reading last night it just seemed as if a lot of things started pointing to the idea that we humans don't discover so much as create meaning, and the follow up that then there may not be any meaning beyond our own perception.