Page "Deconstruction" Paragraph 19

For example, the word " house " derives its meaning more as a function of how it differs from " shed ", " mansion ", " hotel ", " building ", etc.

( Form of Content, that Louis Hjelmslev distinguished from Form of Expression ) than how the word " house " may be tied to a certain image of a traditional house ( i. e. the relationship between signifier and signified ) with each term being established in reciprocal determination with the other terms than by an ostensive description or definition: when can we talk about a " house " or a " mansion " or a " shed "?

The same can be said about verbs, in all the languages in the world: when should we stop saying " walk " and start saying " run "?

The same happens, of course, with adjectives: when must we stop saying " yellow " and start saying " orange ", or exchange " past " for " present?

Not only are the topological differences between the words relevant here, but the differentials between what is signified is also covered by différance.

Deferral also comes into play, as the words that occur following " house " in any expression will revise the meaning of that word, sometimes dramatically so.

This is true not only with syntagmatic succession in relation with paradigmatic simultaneity, but also, in a broader sense, between diachronic succession in History related with synchronic simultaneity inside a " system of distinct signs ".