Sgt. Pepper, de Saussure

"The arbitrary nature of the sign explains in turn why the social fact alone can create a linguistic system. The community is necessary if values that owe their existence solely to the usage and general acceptance are to be set up; by himself the individual is incapable of fixing a single value." (p. 8)

I think what this is saying can be compared to the idea that "in language there are only differences." (p. 10) Like saying that language is basically made up of differences, de Saussure is also saying that the values within a linguistic system cannot be made up by a single individual. In order to obtain meaning for any values at all, it is necessary for there to be an agreement between the community. These values, then, are simply determined by the differences that the community sees and thus considers when fixing their values.

It's so interesting that the languages spoken today serve as rhetoric to how each society who started the language once lived. Though language has evolved tremendously since the beginning of any language, language still serves as a clear reflection on how our societies differ.