Ferdinand D Saucer

Ferdinand de Saussure: Was a Swiss linguist whose ideas laid a foundation for many significant developments in linguistics in the 20th century. He is widely considered one of the fathers of 20th-century linguistics.[1][2] However, many modern linguists and philosophers of language consider his ideas outdate. his ideas have significantly influenced the humanities and social sciences.Ferdinand Mongin de Saussure was born in Geneva in 1857.Saussure showed signs of considerable talent and intellectual ability as early as the age of fourteen Saussure's most influential work, Course in General Linguistics (Cours de linguistique générale), was published posthumously in 1916 by former students Charles Bally and Albert Sechehaye on the basis of notes taken from Saussure's lectures in Geneva. The Course became one of the seminal linguistics works of the 20th century, not primarily for the content (many of the ideas had been anticipated in the works of other 20th century linguists), but rather for the innovative approach that Saussure applied in discussing linguistic phenomena. According to Saussure, a language is arbitrary because it is systematic in that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Also, all languages have their own concepts and sound images (or signifieds and signifiers). Therefore, Saussure argues, languages have a relational conception of their elements: words and their meanings are defined by comparing and contrasting their meanings to one another. For instance, the sound images for and the conception of a book differ from the sound images for and the conception of a table. Languages are also arbitrary because of the nature of their linguistic elements: they are defined in terms of their function rather than in terms of their inherent qualities. Finally, he posits, language has a social nature in that it provides a larger context for analysis, determination, and realization of its structure. Ferdinand de Saussure's Cours de linguistique generale was posthumously composed by his students from the notes they had made at his lectures. The book became one of the most influential works of the twentieth century, giving direction to modern linguistics and inspiration to literary and cultural theory. Before he died Saussure told friends he was writing up the lectures himself but no evidence of this was found. Eighty years later in 1996 a manuscript in Saussure's hand was discovered in the orangerie of his family house in Geneva. This proved to be the missing original of the great work. It is published now in English for the first time in an edition edited by Simon Bouquet and Rudolf Engler, and translated and introduced by Carol Sanders and Matthew Pires, all leading Saussure scholars. The book includes an earlier discovered manuscript on the philosophy of language, Saussure's own notes for lectures, and a comprehensive bibliography of major work on Saussure from 1970 to 2004. Saussure indicates that “a literary language” gives a greater focus to writing since it is guided by the definitions and grammatical strictures. This form of language is given greater importance since students are indoctrinated to in through education. Ultimately, Ferdinand de Saussure that this relationship to writing inverts the natural relationship between speakers and language. For Ferdinand de Saussure, the importance of the spoken language is evident despite the focus many linguists and philosophers place on the written word. It is in the spoken word that his principles are most evident.He finds the importance of writing in the way that the reader provides to the signs in the text. Even while acknowledging the importance of the reader-text relationship, Ferdinand de Saussure maintained the importance of written language.Saussure indicates that languages are expressed mostly through writing. A person’s knowledge of their home language or their first language is invaded by the written form. Remote and dead languages need to be supported by a written language for their survival.Ferdinand de Saussure would find this relationship between language and writing distressing and use his work to maneuver around the totalizing effects of written language.