Ferdinand de Saussure:

The man of language

by Dr. R. Premkumar

Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure is considered the Father of Modern Linguistics by pioneering structuralists in the west. The structuralism has a significant influence on the course of literary studies in the 20th century.

Saussure pays attention on the system of language. Man – centered concept is replaced by structure-centered concept by Saussure. Saussure criticises diachronic approach which is based on historical aspect, instead, he emphasises synchronic approach of the language based on viewing language in a particular time.

The masterpiece of Saussure, A course in general Linguistics was posthumously published in 1915 by his colleagues and this work was formed from his lecture notes. The book has a tremendous influence on the various fields such as anthropology, psychology, semiotics and literary criticism.

The linguistic theory of Saussure revolves around ‘signs’ and for him language is nothing but a system of signs. The sign is a basic unit of meaning and the meaning of the sign is arbitrary. The sign consists of two elements: Signifier and Signified.

Mental concept

The signifier refers to a word image and the signified implies the mental concept of the word. According to Saussure the meaning of a word is arbitrary and conventional and he refuses the idea that language is a natural phenomenon. On the contrary, Saussure argues that a language is a system of signs created and used by a particular society. Saussure highlights the arbitrary meaning of a word evidenced by a thing denoted by different words in different languages. For instance, the English word, ‘dog’ is denoted by different words in different languages.

Saussure also contends that the meaning of a word is relational. It means that a word's meaning is determined and understood by other words and no word can be defined in isolation. For instance, we understand the meaning of the word ‘dog’ as it differs from other words in various aspects such as different signifiers, different signified and different sounds.

Linguistic theory

Saussure introduces interlinked concepts: language and parole in his linguistic theory and those concepts take a significant place in Saussurian linguistics: ‘langue’ means language in French while ‘parole’ implies speech in the same. The langue refers to the system underlying speech activity and parole pinpoints the speech of an individual person.

The langue embodies abstract, systematic rules and convention of language. It is independent of individual speakers of a particular language and its existence precedes individual speakers of the language. The langue consists of fundamental principles and rules of a language and without it no meaningful sentence would be possible. Actually, parole refers to concrete examples of application of langue.

For Saussure, the parole is the individual personal phenomenon of language as a series of speech acts made by a person. Even though Saussure concentrates on structure of language, he believes that the study of parole would reveal many hidden features of langue. Saussure uses an analogy to explain the concepts of langue and parole and as an analogy he takes chess for the purpose. He compares the langue to the rules of chess, the norms for the playing the game and the parole to individual choices or preferences for playing the game.

Borderland

For Saussure language is really a borderland between thought and sound in which thought and sound combine and provide communication.

Saussure unearths the dominant features of linguistic signs: syntagmatic and the paradigmatic relationships. In a language, the words that are arranged in a chain relationship and linear relationship is called the syntagmatic relationship. In this relationship every word in a sentence is connected to one another and in this sentence every word has different value but combination of the words makes one meaning.

For instance, ‘I will come tomorrow’ in this sentence four elements have different values and the sentence receives one meaning at a given time. One can find a particular order in the sentence and irregularity in the order will not make the sentence meaningful; for instance, ‘Will I tomorrow come'.

Paradigmatic relationship is contrastive or choice in nature. The words shared by a common meaning have association in the memory and resulting in group have various relations. For instance, the English word ‘learning’ shares its meaning with unconsciously the words such as study, knowledge and discipline. In this relationship, the words are not linear but paradigmatic (vertical). The co-ordinations are outside of the discourse and their relations are not linear but vertical in nature.

Discourse

For Saussure, existing place of the coordination of the discourse is the brain and the relation of the words creates a language for every speaker. Paradigmatic relationship is individual in nature and it occurs in an individual which varies person to person to person.

It is also psychological and the relation embodies unpredictable, free, dynamic and idiosyncratic. It is more or less equal to the parole. This relation depends on individual choice. Instead of horizontal, paradigmatic relationship is vertical. For instance,

We can meet Tomorrow,
You could go now,
I will eat next,
She should come soon,

Making the four sentences and understanding the interlink altogether can be conceived as paradigmatic.

For Saussure, language is a structured system of arbitrary signs. A symbol is not arbitrary and it may be a signifier. Unlike sign, a symbol will not be completely arbitrary. Saussure argues that there is rational relationship between symbol and signified.

Structuralism underwent many criticisms in the hands of poststructuralists. However, its influence of various fields of humanities is still experienced and evaluated as an underlying force in the western thought of 21st century.