BENVENISTE AND THE SAUSSURIAN THEORY OF THE LINGUISTIC SIGN: THE BINOMIAL CONTINGENCY-NECESSITY

This article examines how Benveniste (1939) discusses Saussure's view (1916) of the nature of linguistic sign. Benveniste, without disregarding the issue of contingency and arbitrariness so dear to Saussurean theory, bases himself on the idea that the sign, considered from the viewpoint of the speaker, would claim the account of its necessary character. According to the authors, Benveniste brings to the discussion the relevance and effectiveness of having ready-to-use signs, whose primary character would be to put men in relation to the world, with their inscription in a social semanticism.