Ferdinand de Saussure (/sɔːˈsʊr/ or /soʊˈsʊr/; French pronunciation: [fɛʁdinɑ̃ də sosyʁ]; 26 November 1857 – 22 February 1913) 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. One of his translators, Emeritus Professor of Linguistics (Oxford University), Roy Harris, has summarized Saussure's contribution ...
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Ferdinand de Saussure (/sɔːˈsʊr/ or /soʊˈsʊr/; French pronunciation: [fɛʁdinɑ̃ də sosyʁ]; 26 November 1857 – 22 February 1913) 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. One of his translators, Emeritus Professor of Linguistics (Oxford University), Roy Harris, has summarized Saussure's contribution to linguistics and the study of language in the following way:
"Language is no longer regarded as peripheral to our grasp of the world we live in, but as central to it. Words are not mere vocal labels or communicational adjuncts superimposed upon an already given order of things. They are collective products of social interaction, essential instruments through which human beings constitute and articulate their world. This typically twentieth-century view of language has profoundly influenced developments throughout the whole range of human...
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