Barthes reversed Saussure’s hierarchy, subordinating linguistics to semiotics.

Evidence

Barthes inverted this proposition, declaring that linguistic systems were only one element in a much wider field of sign-systems, the science of which was semiotics. Semiotics was the method by means of which the mental and symbolic or signifying systems of a culture could be systematically investigated. — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 364

Categorization

• DEFINE: Explains the inversion that founded semiotics as a discipline broader than linguistics.