Historical Figures Codexery

Ferdinand de Saussure

Swiss linguist and semiotician who laid the foundation for 20th-century linguistics and semiotics.

Born in Geneva on 26 November 1857 and dying on 22 February 1913 in Vufflens-le-Château, Vaud, Switzerland, Ferdinand Mongin de Saussure worked as a linguist, semiotician, and philosopher.[1][2][3] Linguistics and semiotics in the 20th century saw many significant developments whose foundation was provided by Saussure's ideas.[4] 20th-century linguistics counts Saussure as one of its founders, and together with Charles Sanders Peirce he is considered a major founder of semiotics.[4]

Quick Facts

Region
Western philosophy
Era
19th-century philosophy
Born
26 November 1857
Birthplace
Geneva, Switzerland
Died
22 February 1913
Place of death
Vufflens-le-Château, Vaud, Switzerland
Institutions
EPHE, University of Geneva
School of thought
  • Structuralism
  • linguistic turn
  • semiotics

Facts from the source article.

Life and work

He showed signs of considerable talent as early as age fourteen and began attending the Institution Martine in Geneva in autumn 1870.[2] He spent a year studying Latin, Ancient Greek and Sanskrit at the University of Geneva.[5] At age 21, Saussure published a book on the primitive vowel system in Indo-European languages.[6] His lectures between 1907 and 1911 were collected and published posthumously as the Course in General Linguistics in 1916.[7]

What the cited sources add

The "Semiotics for Beginners" account states that Saussure offered a 'dyadic' or two-part model of the sign.[8] The same source notes that the sign is the whole resulting from the association of the signifier with the signified.[8] According to that account, Saussure argued that signs only make sense as part of a formal, generalized and abstract system.[8] The "Semiotics for Beginners" account reports that Saussure emphasized negative, oppositional differences between signs.[8]

It also states that Saussure declared "the entire linguistic system is founded upon the irrational principle that the sign is arbitrary."[8] Columbia University Press published "Course in general linguistics" in 2011, and that edition has 260 pages.[9] University of Wisconsin Press published "Prologomena to a theory of language" in 1961, and that edition has 144 pages.[10]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Ferdinand de Saussure" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Saussure, Ferdinand de", Oxford University Press (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Ferdinand de Saussure" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Слюсарева, Наталья Александровна: Некоторые полузабытые страницы из истории языкознания – Ф. де Соссюр и У. Уитней. (Общее и романское языкознание: К 60-летию Р; Joseph, "Saussure", Oxford University Press, 2012, p. 120; Joseph, "Saussure", OUP Oxford, 22 March 2012; Joseph, "Saussure", Oxford University Press, 2012, p. 120 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Ferdinand de Saussure" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: H. Vermorel, 'Raymond de Saussure. First president of the European Psychoanalytical Federation', International Journal of Psychoanalysis 79:1 (February 1998), p (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Ferdinand de Saussure" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Robins, R. H. 1979. A Short History of Linguistics, 2nd Edition. Longman Linguistics Library. London and New York. p. 201: Robins writes Saussure's statement of; Harris, R. and T. J. Taylor. 1989. Landmarks in Linguistic Thought: The Western Tradition from Socrates to Saussure. 2nd Edition. Chapter 16.; Justin Wintle, Makers of modern culture, Routledge, 2002, p. 467.; David Lodge, Nigel Wood, Modern Criticism and Theory: A Reader, Pearson Education, 2008, p. 42.; Thomas, Margaret. 2011. Fifty Key Thinkers on Language and Linguist en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Ferdinand de Saussure" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Chang, "History of Universities: Volume XXXIV/1", Oxford University Press, 2021, p. 161; Chang, "History of Universities: Volume XXXIV/1", Oxford University Press, 2021, p. 161 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Ferdinand de Saussure" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Joseph (2012:253) (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Ferdinand de Saussure" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Recueil des publications scientifiques de F. de Saussure (1922), ed. C. Bally and L. Gautier, Lausanne and Geneva: Payot. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  8. "Semiotics for Beginners: Signs", www.cs.princeton.edu. facts only, no text reused. cs.princeton.edu
  9. Open Library record, ISBN 9780231157278 ("Course in general linguistics"). CC0 (metadata); book content not read. openlibrary.org
  10. Open Library record, ISBN 0299024709 ("Prologomena to a theory of language"). CC0 (metadata); book content not read. openlibrary.org

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Ferdinand de Saussure (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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