Signifier…Signified

On 31st January 2025, UCD celebrated the impact and reception of Swiss linguist, semiotician and philosopher Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913) in a creative, musical way. The Signifier...Signified interdisciplinary evening in Trapdoor@UCD was hosted by Síofra Pierse, Head of UCD School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics. Music and poetry combined for true interdisciplinarity at this oversubscribed event.

Síofra Pierse, Zsuzsanna Ardó, Ambassador Jenny Piaget, Regina Uí Chollatáin, Bettina Migge, Colin Scott

Inspiration stemmed from poet Zsuzsanna Ardó’s poem Signifier Signified I, written as an homage to influential philosopher of language, Saussure. In Ardó’s poem, the inadequacy of language for capturing the essence of individuals is underscored and lamented: “A sign. (sigh)/ Does not embody my body. My story. Memory. My mind./ Not./ I (sigh)”. A number of speakers shone a spotlight on semiotics before the musical performance: Prof. Colin Scott, UCD Registrar and Vice-President traced early intellectual encounters with semiotics, as he referenced the nuanced resonance of Saussure within laws of advertising. H.E. Jenny Piaget, Ambassador of Switzerland to Ireland, generous sponsors, spoke of the importance of semiotic subtlety within the delicate language of diplomacy. Poet Zsuzsanna Ardó, fresh from her Spinaria art exhibition in UCD Classics museum, evoked Saussurean signs, nature, and her deep commitment to climate awareness, evidenced in her transnational project, PlanetWoman. Ardó, now Adjunct Lecturer to UCD School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics, shared a recent poem dedicated to her Dublin odyssey. In a masterly sweep, UCD’s Prof. Bettina Migge traced the impact of Saussure on semiotics and structuralism, and the evolution of interpretations of signs within Linguistics, including in more fluid, postmodern times. 

Speakers Orla Flanagan (conductor; TCD); Gráinne Mulvey (composer, TUD), Síofra Pierse (Organiser, SLCL, UCD); Zsuzsanna Ardó (Poet, SLCL UCD); Bettina Migge (linguistics, SLCL, UCD)

Finally, TUD composer Prof. Gráinne Mulvey introduced her new choral symphony, a mixed eight-part a cappella choral piece with occasional divisi, also entitled Signifier…Signified. Mulvey referenced the process wherein each individual attempts to find their voice, to realise their potential. Prof. Orla Flanagan (TCD) then workshopped Mulvey’s choral composition with singers from the exceptional Mornington Singers choir. Flanagan presented the complexity of Mulvey’s piece excerpt by excerpt, explaining the techniques used, and priming the audience to appreciate complex slides and chords, before Mornington Singers sang each excerpt in turn. Flanagan’s musical workshop was a masterpiece in bringing the audience deep inside a challenging, yet beautiful, musical world première. While the event (co-organised by Melanie Pape) filled the new Trapdoor@UCD black box theatre at the very end of January, musings, harmonies and overtones will continue to resound for a long time afterwards.

Images by: Didier Bianco ((opens in a new window)https://didierbianco.myportfolio.com/)