Semiology at the service of 'sociolinguistics' in Charles Bally's course notes.

Charles Bally, Saussure's successor in the Chair of General Linguistics in Geneva, imagines how semiology, as sketched out by Saussure, could shed light on fashion, a sociological phenomenon. Bally defines fashion both in its own terms and in specifically linguistic ones, and revisits semiological concepts such as indexes, signs and symbols. Saussure and Bally offer different perspectives on what semiology should deal with, and the difference revolves around the notion of arbitrariness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]