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 .