Ferdinand de Saussure
Ferdinand de Saussure
Ferdinand Mongin de Saussurewas a Swiss linguist and semiotician. His ideas laid a foundation for many significant developments both in linguistics and semiology in the 20th century. He is widely considered one of the founders of 20th-century linguistics and one of two major foundersof semiotics/semiology...
NationalitySwiss
ProfessionEducator
Date of Birth26 November 1857
CountrySwitzerland
Ferdinand de Saussure quotes about
cold-hearted serious paradox
I’m almost never serious, and I’m always too serious. Too deep, too shallow. Too sensitive, too cold hearted. I’m like a collection of paradoxes.
connections arbitrary
The connection between the signifier and the signified is arbitrary.
nebula language uncharted
Without language, thought is a vague, uncharted nebula.
conservative language initiative
Of all social institutions language is least amenable to initiative. It blends with the life of society, and the latter, inert by nature, is a prime conservative force.
language individual organs
A language presupposes that all the individual users possess the organs.
historical examination principles
The critical principle demanded an examination, for instance, of the contribution of different periods, thus to some extent embarking on historical linguistics.