langue, n.All

Langue's passage to parole (i.e. From the semiotic to the semantic) is not a logical operation at all. It is a practical activity marked by assumption of langue by one or more speaking subjects.

Langue is a system of signs based on the principle of difference, difference between different signifiers on the one hand, and difference between different signifieds on the other. The signifier 'horse' is identifiable only to the extent that it is phonetically distinct from other signifiers (for example, 'course' or 'norse')... the signified 'horse' makes sense only in relation to a network of concepts from which it differs (in the same category, 'ass' or 'donkey').

Langue is not a function of the speaking subject, it is the social part of language, external to the individual, who by himself is powerless either to create it or to modify it. It exists only in virtue of a kind of contract agreed between the members of a community.

Langue is a view of the language system whereby only differences are visible. It includes neither ideas nor sounds existing prior to the linguistic system, but only conceptual and phonetic differences arising out of that system.

Langue is the legislative part of language, and parole (speech) as the executive part of language, the concrete instantiation of langue in the individual and particular acts of speaking or writing, for example. (232).

Langue is characterized by reversible time (synchonic) and parolei is a kind of situational particularity existing in non-reversible time (diachronic).

Langue is the engraphic system to which belongs meaning as the relation between sign and the thing signified. Parole is that to which the speaker and listener belong.

Langue is made up only of differences and no positive terms. It includes neither ideas nor sounds existing prior to the linguistic system, but only conceptual and phonetic differences arising out of that system.