Ferdinand de Saussure
To summarize, Saussure describes language as our ability to represent meaning by using signs (the words themselves and the way they sound when spoken). In the process of communicating with another individual, language can be found in the process of taking meaning from the words that we hear (which make up an “auditory image”). This process is psychological, while producing signs is the physiological process of speech. To study language, we focus on the psychological process.