Ferdinand de Saussure

Saussure’s contribution
 1. Saussure provided a general orientation, a sense
of the task of linguistics which had seldom been
questioned.
 2. He influenced modern linguistics in the specific
concepts. Many of the developments of modern
linguistics can be described as his concepts: his ideas
of the arbitrary nature of the sign, langue-parole;
synchrony-diachrony; syntagmatic-paradigmatic
relations. Saussure’s fundamental perception is of
revolutionary significance, and it is he that pushed
linguistics into a brand new stage and all linguistics
in the twentieth century are Saussurean linguistics.
How does linguistics differ from
traditional grammar?
 Linguistics is descriptive not prescriptive:
do not prescribe rules of “correctness”.
– Language changes all the time: linguist do not
judge but observe this:
different to -----different from
 Linguists regard the spoken language as
primary not the written.
– Writing systems are derived from the vocal
sounds
Theories and Schools of Modern
Linguistics
 Ferdinand de Saussure: father of modern
linguistics
 Saussure’s ideas were developed along three lines:
Linguistics: W. D. Whitney, Neogrammarian
tradition
Sociology: E. Durkheim
Psychology: S. Freud

4
 Ferdinand de Saussure-Bio
 Born 26 November 1857
– (French origin, moved to Geneva)
 From a family of many scholars
 Studied Latin, Greek, chemistry, theology and
law at University of Geneva (1875-76)
 At age 21, wrote Mémoire sur le système
primitif des voyelle dans les langues indo-
européennes in which he proved scholars
wrong.
 Ferdinand de Saussure-Bio
 1880 awarded doctorate at University
Leipzig (Germany).
 Taught at Paris.
 1891 returned to Geneva to teach there.
 Taught ancient Sanskrit for 21 (!) years!
 Was asked to teach a course in General
Linguistics (taught it three times 1907 - 11)
 Ferdinand de Saussure-Bio
 Course in General Linguistics: C.
Bally, A. Sechehaye

 Influenced many different linguists,

but also other disciplines:
 Anthropology
 Psychiatry
 Literary criticism
Ferdinand de Saussure-Influence
Some names include:
 Claude Lévi-Strauss
(Structural Anthropology)
(http://encarta.msn.com/find/Concise.asp?ti=06AA4000)

 Roland Barthes
Early works in Semiotics, put
principles into application
(http://we.got.net/~tuttle/)
Ferdinand de Saussure-Influence
 Roman Jakobson
Linguist in the “Frankfurt School”
(http://www.heartfield.demon.co.uk/jakobson.htm)

 Jacques Lacan
Psychiatry
(http://www.slip.net/~lacan/)

 Jacques Derrida
Literary criticism
(http://www.hydra.umn.edu/derrida/)
 Ferdinand de Saussure
-Linguistics / Key Terms
 Linguistics
– Analysis of language

 Semiology:
– The “Science of the life of signs within the
heart of social life” (Saussure)
Language is a system of signs. A sign is the
union of a form and an idea.
Saussure and Western economy of his time
DICHOTOMIES BY SAUSSURE:
LANGUE vs. PAROLE
SYNTAGMATIC vs. PARADIGMATIC
DIACHRONIC VS. SYNCHRONIC
ABSENCE vs. PRESENCE
VIRTUAL WORLDS vs. ACTUAL WORLDS
Saussure’s influence on modern linguistics:
.
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 Ferdinand de Saussure
-Linguistics / Key Terms
 Sign:
– combination of a concept and a sound-image
 Signifier:
– the sound-image
 Signified:
– concept
 What does all this mess mean?
An Example of Saussure’s words

Signifier I Signified I
(Image) (Concept)

(Roses) (Passion)

Sign I
(passionified roses)
 What does all this mess mean?
An Example of Saussure’s words

Signifier II Signified II
(Image) (Concept)
(Passionified Roses) (Valentine’s Day)
(i.e. Sign becomes
new Signifier)

Sign II
(Product consumption, expenditure
of money as romantic obligation) ...
 Ferdinand de Saussure-
Linguistics
 Arbitrary Nature of the Sign
– We have inherited language from our ancestors.

– Language is connecting sound-images

(signifier)
 Ferdinand de Saussure-
Linguistics
 Arbitrary Nature of the Sign
Boundaries become blurred when we
look at different types of “language”
(e.g. body language, pantomime, spoken
language, written language, deaf-mute
language, sign language, Braille, etc.)
 Ferdinand de Saussure-
Linguistics
 The Linear Nature of the Signifier
– Signifier = sound-image
– it is measurable only in terms of time.
– Problem: when writing down the “sound-
image” the sound component gets lost.
 Ferdinand de Saussure-
Linguistics
 Immutability of the Sign
– The signifier (sound-image) “is fixed, not
free”
– “community itself cannot control so much as
a single word; it is bound to the existing
language.”
– Problem: modern language has added many
different words (e.g. computers, “teen”
language)
 Ferdinand de Saussure-
Linguistics
 Immutability of the Sign (2)
– Language is a law, not a rule which we can opt
to follow.
– We inherit these laws from our ancestors.
– Language is a social “institution” and must be
seen in the setting.
– “Speakers are largely unconscious of the laws
of language.”
 Ferdinand de Saussure-
Linguistics
 Immutability of the Sign (3)
(1) Arbitrary Nature of the Sign
(2) Multiplicity of Signs Needed for Language
(3) System is “overly complex”
(4) Community does not care to change things.
Tradition  follows no law  arbitrary
 Ferdinand de Saussure-
Linguistics
 Mutability
– Time changes the relationship between signi-
fier (sound-image), signified (concept) and
therefore the sign.
– E.g. “mouse” =

= = “mouse”
 Ferdinand de Saussure-
Linguistics
 Mutability (2)
– Language = product of both social force and
time.
– It holds true even for artificial languages,
such as Esperanto.
 langue vs. parole
 Langue = speech minus speaking
 Language is a social construct which re-
quires a community of speakers.
 Linguistic sign is arbitrary and cannot be
taken out of social or temporal context.
This is exactly, where signifier and signified
are able to shift their relationships (compare
“mouse” and “mouse”).
Langue and Parole
Langue--- the language system shared by a
community of speakers
Parole--- the concrete act of speaking in actual
situations by an individual speaker.
 Langue (French, meaning "language") and parole
(meaning "speech") are linguistic terms used by
Ferdinand de Saussure. Langue describes the
social, impersonal phenomenon of language as a
system of signs, while parole describes the
individual, personal phenomenon of language as a
series of speech acts made by a linguistic subject.
Syntagmatic and Paradigmatic

One of Saussure’s ideas

Paradigmatic relation: contrasts which
produce distinct and alternative terms.

Syntagmatic relation: the relations

between units which combine to form
sequences.
 Diachronic and synchronic Linguistics
 Synchronic study: exploring contemporary use
 Diachronic study: examining of a linguistic phenomena or
describing the language change over time (Historical
Linguistics)

Synchronic-
horizontal

Diachroni
c-vertical
 Ferdinand de Saussure

 Because of the addition of time to the social

context, Saussure feels that there should be
two branches of linguistics, which he calls:
– Synchronic
– Diachronic
 Ferdinand de Saussure
 Synchronic
– confined to one point of view in order to show
the whole language system
 Diachronic
– traces evolution of language, looking not at the
whole system but at individual elements of it at
different times.
 Ferdinand de Saussure
 Saussure died in 1913.
 His Course in General Linguistics was
published by students posthumously in
1916 and has been translated into many
different languages.