Reflections on Parallel Lines in Sociology and Linguistics

There are two lines of development in both sociological and linguistic thought. One makes a sharp distinction between individuals and society, with an overwhelming emphasis on the role and function of society’s norms and rules. The second holds a more integrative perspective on the interaction of society and its members and sees social norms as immanent in individual conduct rather than as externally imposed on the practices of everyday life. The first developmental line reaches its highest point in Saussure’s linguistic theory, while the second one is best promoted in Erving Goffman’s dramaturgy theory. A thorough analysis of these two lines with reference to sociology and linguistics, respectively, helps further an understanding of the nature of sign. This article attempts to highlight a significant turn of semiotic thinking in Goffman’s sociological theory that has to a large extent been neglected. This semiotic turn could be formulated as characterizing the sign in terms of its more interactional function in the practices of everyday life and away from its more structural and external function of providing norms and rules for such interactions. In this approach the function of the sign is made more coherent with the social dimensions of individuals in the interactional situations of everyday life.