Synchronic linguistics, it will be recalled, is ‘concerned with the logical and psychological relations that bind together coexisting terms and form a system in the collective minds of speakers’ (CLG, 140, 99). Such a system is, Saussure claims, one of pure values. But why must linguistic terms belong to such a system? What are the relations which relate them to each other? And why is a system of terms which are related to each other by these relations one of pure values? Saussure's answer to the first two questions is the principal subject matter of this chapter; Chapter 6 is devoted to discussion of the third. Hence in these two chapters we shall trace the way in which Saussure's answers to these questions lead to the conclusion that ‘a linguistic system is a series of differences of sound combined with a series of differences of ideas’ the combination of which ‘engenders a system of values’; moreover, ‘this system serves as the effective link between the phonic and the psychological elements within each sign’ (CLG, 166, 120). But before we consider the detailed argument, I shall begin by raising what is at first sight a rather curious question: What precisely are the terms of the system in question?

Concrete and abstract entities

The question seems curious, because in the light of the previous discussion the answer appears to be obvious: They are linguistic signs.