Describe the Diagram

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Describe the diagram that Saussure uses on page 853 to illustrate his concept of the linguistic sign.
On page 853of his Course in General Linguistics, Saussure uses a diagram to illustrate his concept of language consisting of linguistic signs and in particular the signifier (sound-image/word) and the unification of the signified/concept (Saussure, pg 853). The diagram as such sets up the relationship between the linguistic signs. The concept, in this case, is the psychological imprint that the actual sound-image leaves in our senses. A typical example is the Latin word ‘arbor’ which tends to be the word attached to the concept of a tree.
According to Saussure, what is the relationship between the concept (the signified) and the sound image (the signifier)?
Saussure is of the idea that the linguistic sign should be taken as a whole. Farther, he divides this concept into two parts which are the signified which stands for the concept and the signifier which stands for the sound-image. He suggests that the relationship between the signified and the signifier is somewhat arbitrary which would imply that there exists no natural or significant reason as to why the sound-image should remain attached to the concept (Saussure, pg 854). Each person has his/her psychologies and experiences and as such no particular person can experience the same exact thought as another person.
How does Jacques Lacan, on page 1172 of “The Agency of the Letter in the Unconscious,” revise Saussure’s diagram?
On page 1172 of his book ‘The Agency of the letter in the Unconscious’, Jacques Lacan revises Saussure’s diagram of the linguistic sign that classifies the concept (signified) above the sound-image (signifier) aimed at clarifying what he takes as a more important element of the signifier rather than its relationship with the signified.

He does this by coming up with the idea of identifying the relationship of the signifier to the human subject rather than the relationship of the signifier to the signified or the sound-image to the concept. He uses the example of ladies as the signifier and a door as the concept and portrays that obviously ladies cannot be directly linked to the concept of a door. Lacan considers all the links between the signifier and the concept as essentially unstable and as such regards Saussure’s diagram of the sign as misleading because it portrays such instability. His linguistic model diagram of the sign defines what he illustrates as “how the signifier enters the signified” (Lacan, pg1173).
What is the significance of Lacan’s diagram?
The significance of Lacan’s diagram is that it assists in interpreting and more so understanding the associated distortions that are created by the unconscious through Saussure’s diagram of the linguistic sign. His model aims at portraying language as a musical “polyphony…. aligned along the several staves of a score” (Lacan, pg 1175).
How does it relate to Saussure’s original diagram?
Lacan’s diagram relates to Saussure’s original diagram in several ways. The most important relationship between the two diagrams is concerned with the positions of the signified and signifier about the bar that separates them. While in Saussure’s diagram the signified and the signifier are placed above and below the bar respectively, in Lacan’s diagram the positions are changed and we have the signifier below the bar while the signified is above the bar. Secondly, the arrows and ellipse in Saussure’s diagram indicate the unbreakable unity of the linguistic sign which implies that the signifier cannot exist without the presence of the signified and also the signified cannot exist without the signifier regardless of the arbitrariness of the relationship. On the other hand, Lacan’s diagram neither uses the arrows nor the ellipse suggesting that in his model of the relation between the signifier and the signified, the unity of the linguistic sign remains in question.
In your opinion, which writer provides a more convincing representation of the way in which linguistic signs function?
While both Saussure and Lacan play an essential role in the linguistic signs, I believe that Saussure provides a more convincing representation of the way in which the linguistics signs function. He not only investigates language as a structured system linguistic signs but also goes a step farther to examine the relation between speech and evaluation of language. As such, he can be regarded as the brains behind modern linguistics. He leads us to the conclusion that the meaning of linguistic signs is established by the relation between them which in return forms the structure of language.
Works Cited
De Saussure, Ferdinand. Course in general linguistics. Columbia University Press, 2011.
Lacan, Jacques. The Agency of the Letter in the Unconscious, 1977.
Leitch, Vincent B., and William E. Cain, eds. The Norton anthology of theory and criticism. WW Norton & Company, 2010.