Post on 20-Feb-2017
FERDINAND DE SAUSSURE
By Kayyah
WHO WAS HE?
De Saussure was a Swiss linguist and semiotician whose ideas laid a foundation for many
significant developments both in linguistics and semiology in the 20th century. He is widely
considered one of the fathers of 20th-century linguistics and one of two major fathers (together with
Charles Sanders Peirce) of semiotics/semiology.
Born (1857-11-26)26 November 1857
Geneva, Switzerland
Died 22 February 1913(1913-02-22) (aged 55)
Vufflens-le-Château, Vaud, Switzerland
Era 19th-century philosophy
WHAT DID HE DO?
Saussure made theoretical reconstructions of the PIE vocalic system. Saussure also
had a major impact on the development of linguistic theory in the first half of the 20th
century. His two currents of thought emerged independently of each other, one in
Europe, the other in America. The results of each incorporated the basic notions of
Saussure's thought in forming the central tenets of structural linguistics.
Saussure took the sign as the organizing concept for linguistic structure, using it to
show the conventional nature of language in the phrase "l'arbitraire du signe". This
has the effect of highlighting what is, in fact, the one point of arbitrariness in the
system, namely the phonological shape of words, and hence allows the non-
arbitrariness of the rest to emerge with greater clarity.
WHY WAS HE SO SPECIAL?
Saussure is one of the founding fathers of semiotics, which he called
semiology. His concept of the sign/signifier/signified/referent forms the core of
the field. Equally crucial, although often overlooked or misapplied, is the
dimension of the syntagmatic and paradigmatic axes of linguistic description.
SEM IO TICS AN D S AUSSU RE 'S EFFECT
Semiotics is the study of meaning-making, the philosophical theory of signs and symbols. This includes the study of signs and sign processes, indication, designation, likeness, analogy, metaphor, symbolism, signification, and communication.
Saussure took the sign as the organizing concept for
linguistic structure, using it to express the conventional
nature of language in the phrase "l'arbitraire du signe". An
example of something that is distinctly non-arbitrary is the
way different kinds of meaning in language are expressed by
different kinds of grammatical structure, as appears when
linguistic structure is interpreted in functional terms .