The 'signified' and the concept in naming

Without challenging the Saussurean assertion as to the arbitrariness of the sign, based primarily if not solely on the relationship between 'signifier' and 'signified', it is worthwhile to establish the difference between signifier and concept. Using data from several languages and cultural contexts, European as well as African, this article aims to demonstrate that although concept and signified both conjure up identical cultural realities, the notion of concept seems to be more objective, and therefore more universal in terms of representing things, whereas that of signified seems to be closely linked to cultural perception. The signified may change from one culture to another; it may also change over time within the same culture. For a given object, the concept may be assumed to be the essential idea, the principle or rather the archetype and the signified the 'vantage' point--one point of view among many.