How did Ferdinand de Saussure’s theories of language influence Jacques Derrida?

Jacques Derrida’s work on deconstruction was significantly influenced by the linguistic theories of Ferdinand de Saussure, particularly regarding the nature of meaning in language.12

Saussure proposed that linguistic signs are arbitrarily related to reality and that meanings are understood only through the contrasts and differences between words within a system. Derrida extended this insight, arguing that because meaning is determined by the play of differences between words, it is never fully "present" or fixed.12

Derrida coined the term différance—meaning both to differ and to defer—to describe how meaning is created through this infinite, indefinite play of differences. While Saussure’s structuralism sought to analyze language as a stable system of signs, Derrida used these concepts to challenge the "metaphysics of presence" in Western philosophy. He argued that the logocentric assumption—that truth exists prior to and independent of language—is a distortion, as meaning is always deferred in an endless chain of linguistic traces. Thus, Derrida utilized Saussure’s structural principles to move beyond them, demonstrating that language is not a transparent medium for truth but a structure where meaning is inherently unstable.123