Saussure: A Guide For The Perplexed
eBook - PDF

Saussure: A Guide For The Perplexed

  1. 160 pages
  2. English
  3. PDF
  4. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - PDF

Saussure: A Guide For The Perplexed

About this book

Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913) is generally considered one of the main founders of modern linguistics and semiotics. The book that was derived from his teaching, the Course in General Linguistics, had a lasting impact on the intellectual life of the 20th century and remains today an object of debates and controversies. This Guide for the Perplexed introduces the reader to the ways in which Saussure developed his revolutionary insights on language in the context of the linguistics of his time. It also provides clear definitions and explanations of the basic notions that form the substance of his work, with relevant examples of how they apply to the understanding of language and other symbolic systems. The book demonstrates how Saussure's ideas have subsequently been used in the humanities and social sciences. It concludes by pointing to the continuing relevance of the theoretical and practical problems that were articulated by Saussure. This is the ideal book for those studying Saussure, structural linguistics or semantics and semiotics, offering a clear overview and explanation of all the key aspects of this fascinating linguist's work.

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Yes, you can access Saussure: A Guide For The Perplexed by Paul Bouissac in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Filología & Semántica lingüística. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Information

Publisher
Continuum
Year
2010
Print ISBN
9781441186010
eBook ISBN
9781441105677
Edition
1
Topic
Filología
Subtopic
Semántica lingüística
SAUSSURE’S 
LAST 
LECTURES
35
“Ultimately, 
we 
have 
to 
consider 
the 
whole 
system 
of 
language 
as 
sets 
of 
sound 
differences 
combined 
with 
sets 
of 
different 
ideas.”
The 
course 
has 
come 
to 
a 
close. 
Professor 
de 
Saussure 
hesitates. 
He 
has 
not 
delivered 
a 
coherent 
concluding 
statement. 
This 
is 
not 
his 
style. 
He 
lacked 
the 
time 
to 
complete 
the 
program 
he 
had 
announced 
when 
the 
year 
started. 
Looking 
back, 
he 
thinks 
that 
he 
has 
more 
or 
less 
fully 
treated 
the 
external 
part, 
the 
presentation 
of 
the 
diversity 
of 
language. 
But 
for 
the 
internal 
part, 
evolutionary 
linguistics, 
that 
is, 
the 
linguistics 
of 
parole
, 
the 
dynamics 
of 
language, 
has 
been 
neglected 
in 
favor 
of 
some 
general 
principles 
regarding 
static 
linguistic. 
These 
principles 
deserve 
to 
be 
pondered 
further.
In 
1916, 
three 
years 
after 
Saussure’s 
death, 
Leopold 
Gautier, 
the 
student 
who 
had 
interviewed 
him 
in 
May 
1911, 
reminisced 
about 
his 
professor, 
as 
a 
“distinguished 
aging 
gentleman, 
looking 
tired 
and 
dreamy, 
with 
a 
touch 
of 
anxious 
sadness 
and 
perplexity.”

Table of contents

  1. Contents
  2. Introduction
  3. 1 Saussure’s Last Lectures: A Primer in General Linguistics
  4. 2 Saussure’s Early Years: A Golden and Studious Adolescence
  5. 3 Saussure in Leipzig, Berlin, and Paris: The Fast-track to Fame and Maturity
  6. 4 The Journey Home: The Gentleman Linguist of Geneva
  7. 5 Linguistics as a Science: Saussure’s Distinction between Langue (Language as System) and Parole (Language in Use)
  8. 6 Signs, Signification, Semiology
  9. 7 Synchrony and Diachrony
  10. 8 The Making of a Posthumous Book: The Course in General Linguistics (1916)
  11. 9 Saussure’s Double Legacy and Beyond
  12. Appendix I: A Saussure Inventory
  13. Appendix II: The Quotable Saussure
  14. References
  15. Index