Title

Audition-Phonation Circuit

Description

Suppose that the opening of the circuit is in A's brain, where mental facts (concepts) are associated with the representations of the linguistic sounds (sound-images) that are used for their expression. A given concept unlocks a corresponding sound-image in the brain; this purely psychological phenomenon is followed in turn by a physiological process: the brain transmits an impulse corresponding o the image to the organs used in producing sounds. Then the sound waves travel from the mouth of A to the ear of B: a purely physical process. Next, the circuit continues in B, but the order is reversed: from ear to the brain, the physiological transmission of the sound-image; in the brain, the psychological association os the image with the corresponding concept. If B then speaks, the new act will follow--from his brain to A's--exactly the same course as the first act and pass through the same successive phases, which I shall diagram in the [figure].…
I have included only the elements thought to be essential, but the drawing brings out at a glance the distinction between the physical (sound waves), physiological (phonation and audition), and psychological parts (word-images and concepts). Indeed, we should not fail to notice that the word-image stands apart from the sound itself and that it is just as psychological as the concept which is associated with it.

Designer

Saussure, Ferdinand de

Date

1916

Source

Course in General Linguistics

Bibliographic Citation

Saussure, Ferdinand de. 1959. Course in General Linguistics. Edited by Charles Bally and Albert Sechehaye, in collaboration with Albert Reidlinger. Translated from the French by Wade Baskin. Philosophical Library. Pages 11-12.

Saussure, Ferdinand de. 1916. Cours de linguistique générale. Paris: Payot.

depict things of type

English Cyclical

English Sequence or Process

is depiction of attribute

English Square

is composed of

English Circle

English Square

has attribute

English Dash Line

English Arrow

English Solid Line

use feature

English Equal

Coverage

communication