Introduction:
Saussure and His Contexts
“Signifier” and
“Signified”: Reclaiming Saussure’s Legacy
Saussure
reconceived the problem of reference as one of signification. – xv
Life and
Afterlife
The Materiality
of Sign: Solving the Problem of “Sensations” and “Ideas”
The association
of signifier and signified is “arbitrary”, to use Saussure’s words, because it
is only circumstantially determined. – xxxix
The Temporality
of the Sign: Dialectic of Langue and Parole
“indeed it is
extremely false to imagine there to be a distinction between the sound and the
idea. These are in fact inseparably in our minds.” – xliii (EGL 2006, 41; ELG
2002,64)
Saussure:
Translator’s Introduction
Saussure: Preface
to the first edition
Saussure:
Introduction
Chapter I: A
Glance at the History of Linguistics
Chapter II:
Subject Matter and Scope of Linguistics; its Relations with Other Sciences
Chapter III: The
Object of Linguistics
1. Definition of
Language
2. Place of
Language in the Facts of Speech
3. Place of
Language in Human Facts: Semiology
Chapter IV:
Linguistics of Language and Linguistics of Speaking
Language exists
in the form of a sum of impressions deposited in the brain of each member of a
community, almost like a dictionary of which identical copies have been
distributed to each individual. – 19
Chapter V:
Internal and External Elements of Language
The culture of a
nation exerts an influence on its language, and the language, on the other
hand, is largely responsible for the nation. – 20
Chapter VI:
Graphic Representation of Language
1. Need for
Studying the Subject
2. Influence of
Writing: Reasons for its Ascendance over the Spoken Form
3. Systems of
Writing
4. Reasons for
the Discrepancy between Writing and Pronunciation
5. Results of the
Discrepancy
Chapter VII:
Phonology
1. Definition
2. Phonological
Writing
3. Validity of
Evidence Furnished by Writing
Appendix: Principles
of Phonology
Chapter 1:
Phonological Species
1. Definition of
Phoneme
2. The Vocal
Apparatus and its Functioning
3. Classification
of Sounds According to their Oral Articulation
A. Zero Aperture:
Occlusives
B: Aperture 1:
Fricatives or Spirants
C. Aperture 2:
Nasals
D. Aperture 3:
Liquids
E. Aperture 4: i,
u, ü
F. Aperture 5: e,
o, ö
G. Aperture 6: ɑ
Chapter II:
Phonemes in the Spoken Chain
1. Need for
studying sounds in the spoken chain
2. Implosion and
Explosion
3. Different combinations
of Explosions and Implosions in the chain
i.
Explosive-Implosive Combination (<>)
ii.
Implosive-Explosive Combination (><)
iii.
Explosive Link (<<)
iv.
Implosive Link (>>)
4. Syllabic
Boundary and Vocalic Peak
5. Criticism of
Theories of Syllabication
6. Length of
Implosion and Explosion
7. Phonemes of
Aperture 4: Diphthongs; Questions about Transcription
Editor’s Note
Part One: General
Principles
Chapter I: Nature
of the Linguistic Sign
1. Sign,
Signified, Signifier
considering the
speaking-circuit that both terms involved in the linguistic sign are
psychological and are united in the brain by an associative bond. – 65-66
The linguistic
sign unites, not a thing and a name, but a concept and a sound-image. The later
is not the material sound, a purely physical thing, but the psychological
imprint of the sound, the impression that it makes on our senses. – 66
It is clear that
only the associations sanctioned by that language appear to us to conform to
reality, and we disregard whatever others might be imagined. – 66-67
I call the
combination of a concept and a sound-image a sign, but in current usage
the term generally designates only a sound-image, a word, for example. – 67
Ambiguity would
disappear if the three notions involved here were designated by three names,
each suggesting and opposing the others. I propose to retain the word sign
to designate the whole and to replace concept and sound-image
respectively by signified and signifier; the last two terms have
the advantage of indicating the opposition that separates them from each other
and from the whole of which they are parts. – 67
2. Principle I: The Arbitrary Nature of the Sign
The term
[arbitrary] should not imply that the choice of the signifier is left entirely
to the speaker; I mean that it is unmotivated, i.e. arbitrary in that it
actually has no connection with the signified. – 68-69
1. Onomatopoeta might be used to
prove that the choice of the signifier is not always arbitrary. But
onomatopoeic formations are never organic elements of a linguistic system.
Besides, their number is much smaller than is generally supposed. – 69
As for authentic
onomatopoeic words, not only are they limited in number, but also they are
chosen somewhat arbitrarily, for they are only approximate and more or less
conventional imitations of certain sounds. In addition, once these words have
been introduced into the language, they are to a certain extent subjected to
the same evolution – phonetic, morphological, etc. - that other words undergo.
– 69
2. Interjections
for most
interjections we can show that there is no fixed bind between their signified
and signifier. We need only compare two languages on this point to see how much
such expressions differ from one language to the next. – 69
3. Principle II:
The Linear Nature of the Signifier
In contrast to
visual signifier which can offer simultaneous groupings in several dimensions,
auditory signifiers have at their command only the dimension of time. Their
elements are presented in succession: they form a chain. – 70
Chapter II:
Immutability and Mutability of the Sign
1. Immutability
The signifier,
thought to all appearances freely chosen with respect to the idea that it represents,
is fixed, not free, with respect to the linguistic community that uses it. – 71
1. The arbitrary
nature of the sign.
2. The
multiplicity of signs necessary to form any language.
3. The over
complexity of the system.
4. Collective
inertia toward innovation.
2. Mutability
Regardless of
what the forces of change are, whether in isolation or in combination, they
always result in a shift in the relationship between the signified and the
signifier. – 75
Chapter III:
Static and Evolutionary Linguistics
1. Inner Duality
of all Sciences Concerned with Values
Everything that
relates to the static side of our science is synchronic; everything that has to
do with evolution is diachronic. Similarly, synchrony and diachrony
designate respectively a language-state and an evolutionary phase. – 81
2. Inner Duality
and the History of Linguistics
3. Inner Duality
Illustrated by Examples
a material sign
is not necessary for the expression of an idea; language is satisfied with the
opposition between something and nothing. – 86
4. The Difference
between two Classes Illustrated by Comparisons
5. The two
Linguistics Contrasted According to their Methods and Principles
6. Synchronic and
Diachronic Law
7. Is there a
Panchronic Viewpoint?
8. Consequences
of the Confusing of Synchrony and Diachrony
9. Conclusion
Part Two:
Synchronic Linguistics
Chapter I:
Generalities
Chapter II: The
Concrete Entities of Language
1. Definition:
Entity and Unit
3. Practical
Difficulties of Delimitation
Chapter III:
Identities, Realities, Values
Chapter IV:
Linguistic Value
1. Language as
Organized Thought Coupled with Sound
2. Linguistic
Value from a Conceptual Viewpoint
4. The Sign
Considered in its Totality
Chapter V:
Syntagmatic and Associative Relations
1. Definitions
Those
(co-ordinations) formed outside discourse are not supported by linearity. Their
seat is in the brain; they are a part of the inner storehouse that makes up the
language of each speaker. They are associative relations. – 123
3. Associative
Relations
2. Simultaneous
Functioning of the two Types of Groupings
3. Absolute and
Relative Arbitrariness
2. Relational
Divisions
In discourse, on
the one hand, words acquire relations based on the linear nature of language
because they are chained together. – 123
Combinations
supported by linearity are syntagms. The syntagm is always composed of
two or more consecutive units. In the syntagm a term acquires its value only
because it stands in opposition to everything that precedes or follows it, or
to both. – 123
Outside
discourse, on the other hand, words acquire relations of different kind. Those
that have something in common are associated in the memory, resulting in groups
marked by diverse relations. – 123
Chapter VIII:
Role of Abstract Entities in Grammar
Part Three:
Diachronic Linguistics
Chapter I:
Generalities
Chapter II:
Phonemic Changes
1. Their absolute
regularities
2. Conditioned
phonetic changes
3. Points on
Method
Chapter III:
Grammatical Consequences of Phonemic Evolution
1. The Breaking
of the Grammatical Bond
2. Effacement of
the Structure of Words
3. There are no
Phonetic Doublets
4. Alternation
5. Laws of
Alternation
2. Analogical
Phenomena are not changes
3. Analogy as a
Creative Force in Language
Chapter V:
Analogy and Evolution
1. How an
Analogical Innovation Enters Language
2. Analogical
Innovations as Symptoms of Change in Interpretation
3. Analogy as a
Renovating and Conservative Force
Chapter VI: Folk
Etymology
2. Agglutination
and Analogy
Chapter VIII:
Diachronic Units, Identities and Realities
2. Subjective
Analysis and the Defining of Subunits
3. Etymology
Part Four: Geographical
Linguistics
Chapter I: Concerning
the Diversity of Languages
Chapter II: Complications
of Geographical Diversity
1. Coexistence of
Several Languages at the Same Point
2. Literary Language
and Local Idiom
Chapter III: Cause
of Geographical Diversity
1. Time, the Basic
Cause
2. Effect of Time
in Continuous Territory
4. Languages have
no Natural Boundaries
Chapter IV: Spread
of Linguistic Waves
1. Intercourse and
Provincialism
3. Linguistic Differentiation
on Separate Territories
Chapter III: Reconstructions
1. Their Nature and
Aim
2. Ethnic Unity
3. Linguistic Paleontology
4. Linguistic Type
and Mind of the Social Group
Chapter V: Language
Families
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