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Signifier

Philosophy
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

The signifier is the material form of a linguistic sign, such as a sound-image or written word. It is the physical aspect of the sign, distinct from the signified.

Detailed Definition
For Saussure, the signifier is arbitrary. In poetry, the signifier's sound and rhythm matter as much as its meaning. Poets exploit the materiality of the signifier—alliteration, rhyme, etc.—to create aesthetic effects. This emphasis on the word's physicality is key to poetry's art. It shows that poetry operates at the level of the signifier, generating meaning through its sensory properties.
Example
Example in poetry:
The word "rose" in a poem is a signifier, the physical sound or image on the page; The specific spelling of a word, like "night" or "nite," is a choice of signifier; The sound of the word "murmur" is a signifier that imitates its meaning; The visual shape of a poem on the page is a signifier, as in a concrete poem.
Additional Notes
The signifier is the other half of Saussure's linguistic sign. It is the material form of the sign, the psychological imprint of a sound or the written marks on a page. It is the physical aspect of the sign that we perceive. In poetry, the signifier's sound, rhythm, and visual shape matter as much as its meaning. Poets exploit the materiality of the signifier—through alliteration, rhyme, meter, and typography—to create aesthetic effects. This emphasis on the physicality of the word is key to poetry's art. It shows that poetry operates at the level of the signifier, generating meaning through its sensory properties, not just through its conceptual reference.
Also Known As
Sign-vehicle Linguistic form Sound-image
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