Ferdinand de Saussure

Ferdinand de Saussure

Ferdinand de Saussure was a Swiss linguist (November 26, 1857 – February 22, 1913). He passed away before the publication of his book, Course in General Linguistics, which was published in 1916, three years after his death. The book was compiled by Charles Bally and Albert Sechehaye.

Saussure was the founder of structuralism and largely contributed to modern linguistics.

1. Langue and Parole

The distinction between langue and parole was first made by Ferdinand de Saussure.

Langue is a French term for "language." It is defined as a system of language—all the possible rules that make up the language in theory. It is universal and limited.

Parole is also a French term, which refers to "speech" or "individual utterances." It is how these rules are followed by the speakers of that language. It is individual and unlimited.

Note on Chomsky: Saussure died in the beginning of the century. Later, Noam Chomsky introduced similar concepts: competence and performance. Langue is equivalent to competence, while parole is equivalent to performance.

The Chess Analogy:

Ferdinand de Saussure compared this concept to a game of chess. The rules of the game represent langue, while the actual playing of the game by individuals represents parole.

2. Diachronic and Synchronic Approaches

Saussure identified two separate approaches to studying language, which he insisted must be kept distinct.

Diachronic Approach: This is equivalent to historical linguistics. It is the study of language changes over time and the study of language history. It focuses on how a language changes from one particular moment in history until today.

Example: Studying the evolution of the English language from the Shakespearean era to modern times.

Synchronic Approach: This is the study of the usage of a language at one particular point in time. It can be defined as the study of a language at the present time.

Example: The use of English in Pakistan these days.

Saussure gives priority to the synchronic approach. He states that the first thing that strikes us when we study the facts of language is that their succession in time does not exist as far as the speaker is concerned. For example, a non-native English speaker is not concerned with what happened to the language in the past; they only look at its contemporary use.

The Chess Analogy:

The priority of the synchronic study over the diachronic study is explained by Saussure using a chess analogy. The chessboard is constantly changing during the game as each player makes their moves. However, if someone walks into the room at any given moment, they can fully understand the state of the game just by looking at the current position occupied by the pieces. It does not matter how many moves or what kind of moves were made before arriving at that stage. The game can be described entirely without reference to earlier moves.

3. Arbitrariness

For Saussure, there is no natural or essential reason why a particular sign represents a particular idea; he calls this the arbitrariness of the sign.

Example: Why do we call "a very high area of land with steep sides" a "mountain"? He argues there is no logic behind it; it is purely arbitrary.

Reality Pre-exists Language: For instance, the physical thing a word refers to existed before the word itself. The physical entity came first, and the word "mountain" was assigned to it later.

Exception: There are some words where there is no arbitrariness, such as onomatopoeic words (e.g., buzz, hiss, splash, cuckoo).

4. Saussurean Sign Theory (Sign = Signifier + Signified)

Sign: The overall outcome or the meaning gained.

Signifier: The physical form of a sign. It can be a printed word, an image, or a sound.

Signified: The mental concept, meaning, or idea expressed by the signifier.

Example: A cross symbol (Signifier) represents the concept of religion or Christianity (Signified).

5. Laryngeal Theory

This is a hypothesis proposing that Proto-Indo-European (PIE) had laryngeal consonants that cannot be directly reconstructed but are inferred through their effects on neighboring vowels.

6. Relationality

Saussure’s theory of relational meaning contends that the meanings of words arise through their relationships with other words.

Example: The word "good" means nothing unless it stands in opposition to "bad."

Example: The meaning of the word "bachelor" comes from its relationship to other words in the system, such as "man," "married," and "spinster."

This theory is the foundation of linguistic structuralism, which states that the meanings of signs come from the structure of the whole system they belong to, not from their reference to objective reality. This theory describes a kind of conceptual meaning rather than a referential meaning.

7. Syntagmatic and Paradigmatic Relations

Syntagmatic Relationship: This involves a linear sequence of signs that together create meaning. It is viewed along the horizontal axis. It concerns positioning; two or more words in a sentence form a syntagmatic relationship that creates a specific meaning. If you change the order of the words (syntagms) in a sentence, it can significantly change the meaning.

Example: "John ate an apple" vs. "An apple ate John." (The exact same words are used, but they yield very different meanings because the horizontal order changed).

Paradigmatic Relationship: This is seen along the vertical axis. It involves a relationship between words that can replace each other through substitution without disrupting the structural framework, though it changes the specific meaning.

Example: In the sentence "The dog walked around my yard" (syntagmatic structure), you could vertically replace the word "dog" with another word from the same category, such as "cat," to form a different sentence with a different meaning: "The cat walked around my yard."

Here is the corrected and polished transcription of the handwritten notes from "Ferdinand de Saussure.pdf". The text has been formatted cleanly with grammar and spelling fixes while keeping all your key structuralism concepts intact.  

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Ferdinand de Saussure

By Shah Ali

  

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Ferdinand de Saussure was a Swiss linguist (November 26, 1857 – February 22, 1913). He passed away before the publication of his work, the book A Course in General Linguistics, which was published in 1916, three years after his death. The book was compiled by Charles Bally and Albert Sechehaye.  

PDF

+ 2

He was the founder of structuralism and has largely contributed to modern linguistics.  

PDF

1. Langue and Parole

The distinction between these two, langue and parole, was first made by Ferdinand de Saussure.  

PDF

Langue is a French term for "language". It is defined as a system of language: all possible rules that make up the language in theory. It is universal and limited.  

PDF

+ 2

Parole is a French term that refers to "speech" or "individual utterances". It is how these rules are followed by the speakers of that language. It is individual and unlimited.  

PDF

+ 2

Connection to Chomsky: Saussure died in the beginning of the century. This is why later on, Noam Chomsky gave the concepts of competence and performance. Langue is equivalent to competence, while parole is equivalent to performance.  

PDF

+ 2

The Chess Game Analogy:

Ferdinand de Saussure compared these concepts to a game of chess. The rules of the game are langue, while parole is the actual playing of the game.  

PDF

+ 1

2. Diachronic and Synchronic

Saussure states that these two approaches in linguistics must be observed as separate.  

PDF

Diachronic Approach: Equivalent to historical linguistics. It is the study of changes over time and the study of language history. It is about change in a language from one particular moment until today.  

PDF

+ 2

Example: Studying English from the Shakespearean era until today.  

PDF

Synchronic Approach: It is the study of the usage of a language at one particular time. It could be defined as the study of a language at present times.  

PDF

+ 1

Example: The use of English in Pakistan these days.  

PDF

Saussure gives priority to the synchronic approach. This is because he states that the first thing that strikes us when we study the facts of language is that their succession in time does not exist as far as the speaker is concerned. For example, a non-native English speaker is not concerned with what happened in the past, but looks at the contemporary use of it.  

PDF

+ 2

The Chess Analogy:

The priority of synchronic over diachronic study is explained by Saussure through an analogy with the chess game. The chessboard is constantly changing during the game as each player makes his moves. However, if someone walks into the room at any moment during the game, he can understand the state of the game just by looking at the positions occupied by the pieces. It does not matter how many moves or what kind of moves had been made before arriving at that stage in the game. The game can be described without reference to the earlier moves.  

PDF

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3. Arbitrariness

For Saussure, there is no natural or essential reason why a particular sign represents a particular idea; he calls this the arbitrariness of the sign.  

PDF

Example: Why do we call "a very high area of land with steep sides" a "mountain"? He says there is no logic behind it, and it is simply called arbitrariness.  

PDF

Reality Pre-exists Language: For instance, the word "mountain" did not come first, but the physical thing it refers to came first.  

PDF

Exception: There are some words where there is no arbitrariness, such as onomatopoeic words (buzz, hiss, splash, cuckoo).  

PDF

4. Saussurean Sign Theory (Sign = Signifier + Signified)

Sign: The outcome or meaning gained.  

PDF

Signifier: A physical form of a sign. It can be a printed word, an image, or a sound.  

PDF

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Signified: It is the meaning or idea expressed by the signifier.  

PDF

Example: Signifier (a cross symbol) = Signified (religion/Christianity).  

PDF

5. Laryngeal Theory

It is a hypothesis that proposes that Proto-Indo-European (PIE) had laryngeal consonants that are not directly reconstructed but are inferred through their effects on neighboring vowels.  

PDF

6. Relationality

Saussure's theory of relational meaning contends that the meanings of words arise through their relationships with other words.  

PDF

Example: "Good" means nothing unless it is in opposition to "bad".  

PDF

Example: The meaning of the word "bachelor" comes from its relationships to other words, such as "man," "married," and "spinster".  

PDF

This theory is the foundation of linguistic structuralism, which states that the meanings of signs come from the structure of the whole system they come from, not from their reference to objective reality. This theory describes a kind of conceptual meaning rather than a referential meaning.  

PDF

+ 1

7. Syntagmatic and Paradigmatic Relations

Syntagmatic Relationship: Involves a sequence of signs that together create meaning. Syntagmatic is viewed along the horizontal axis. It concerns positioning. Two or more words in a sentence form a syntagmatic relationship that creates meaning. If you change the order of the syntagms in a sentence, it can change the meaning significantly.  

PDF

+ 4

Example: "John ate an apple" vs. "An apple ate John". These are two sentences using the exact same words (syntagms), but they have very different meanings because the horizontal order (the syntagmatic relationship) of the words changed.  

PDF

+ 1

Paradigmatic Relationship: Seen along the vertical axis. It is a relationship where words can replace each other through substitution, changing the specific meaning while keeping the structural framework.  

Example: "The dog walked around my yard" forms a horizontal syntagmatic meaning. However, you could replace "dog" vertically with another word in the column (paradigmatic substitution) to form a different sentence with a different meaning, such as "The cat walked around my yard".