Every linguistic sign is located on two axes: the axis of simultaneity and that of succession.

Of course, we have known for a long time that a word, like any verbal sign, is a unity of two components.

Linguistic sounds, considered as external, physical phenomena have two aspects, the motor and the acoustic.

Now the identification of individual sounds by phonetic observation is an artificial way of proceeding.

Instead of following one another the sounds overlap; a sound which is acoustically perceived as coming after another one can be articulated simultaneously with the latter or even in part before it.

In poetic language, in which the sign as such takes on an autonomous value, this sound symbolism becomes an actual factor and creates a sort of accompaniment to the signified.

The search for the symbolic value of phonemes, each taken as a whole, runs the risk of giving rise to ambiguous and trivial interpretations because phonemes are complex entities, bundles of different distinctive features.

A new era in the physiological investigation of linguistic sounds was opened up by X-ray photography.

From a strictly articulatory point of view there is no succession of sounds.

Acoustic phonetics, which is developing and increasing in richness very rapidly, already enables us to solve many of the mysteries of sound, mysteries which motor phonetics could not even begin to solve.

Remember that the pharynx is at a crossroads from which leads off, at the top, the passage to the mouth cavity and the passage to the nasal cavity, and below, the passage to the larynx.

When I speak it is in order to be heard.

It is once again the vexing problem of identity within variety; without a solution to this disturbing problem there can be no system, no classification.

At first acoustics attributed to the different sounds only a limited number of characteristic features.

Every linguistic sign is located on two axes: the axis of simultaneity and that of succession.

For example, the opposition between acute and grave phonemes has the capacity to suggest an image of bright and dark, of pointed and rounded, of thin and thick, of light and heavy, etc.

The task is to investigate speech sounds in relation to the meanings with which they are invested, i.e., sounds viewed as signifiers, and above all to throw light on the structure of the relation between sounds and meaning.

Speech sounds cannot be understood, delimited, classified and explained except in the light of the tasks which they perform in language.

Semantics, or the study of meaning, remained undeveloped, while phonetics made rapid progress and even came to occupy the central place in the scientific study of language.

If fruit juices or sugar solutions are left to stand in the open air, they show after a few days the processes which are covered by the name of fermentation phenomena.

I like sparseness. There's something about that minimalist feel that can make something have an immediate impact and make it unique. I'll probably always work with that formula; I just don't know how.

Early spring is the time for vigorous change, a preparation for the heat-driven oppression that is to come.

I don't think I'm a good dancer.

If I am centered then I can reach out to whats happening on the circumference. The ideal is to not lose touch with the centre.

Those who look for the laws of Nature as a support for their new works collaborate with the creator.

Wars of aggression are popular nowadays with those nations convinced that only victory and conquest could improve their material well-being.

I think looks do matter on television.

Oh, I love horror movies, yeah.

Like a missing tooth, sometimes an absence is more noticeable than a presence.

We experience virtual reality on most nights while we are asleep, through our dreams.

I've never been one to be too careful with my diet. If I really start watching what I eat, I'm already a thin guy - I just won't have any physical strength. I think I'll disappear if I don't eat what I need to eat or what I like to eat.

I stay up nights and fiddle with my opera designs. It's a bit obsessive. That's why I can't do it all the time.

Without TV, it's hard to know when one day ends and another begins.

Through acting and film, I felt that my life had a sense to it. I felt I had a mission.

I find humor to be the most attractive characteristic, but I certainly won't cancel anything out, considering when you love someone you love someone, and sometimes you just can't explain it.

Being brave isn't the absence of fear. Being brave is having that fear but finding a way through it.

The things I could have done had Hollywood been more open? I don't dwell on coulda-woulda-shoulda. Because, hey, I've had a great career.

I think a person has to just be herself.

Wear your clothes with abandon, I say; don't keep them pristine as if for museums: They are meant to wear out. Then you get to buy new ones.

Life doesn't stop because something happens to you.

I think most people, no matter their status now, have big screen TVs, because they're the standard TVs now. And so why would you go to the cinema?

You must never lose that touch of childishness. You need it if you wish to write for children, if you wish to understand the heart of a child. Children are good, you see. And they expect good.

I don't run any of my companies. I always partner with somebody who wants to operate.