Ferdinand de Saussure, Cours de linguistique générale [Course in General Linguistics]

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For Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913) – as for many others – the act of writing was fraught with difficulties: how can one put into writing a thinking process that never ceases to evolve? Saussure’s

Cours de linguistique générale

– to this day his most enduring and celebrated work – was in fact edited posthumously (1916) by two of Saussure’s own students, Charles Bally and Albert Séchehaye, in collaboration with Albert Riedlinger.

The Cours de linguistique générale is a relatively short work written in clear French prose, which continues to prevail as a key text in contemporary Social and Human Sciences. Saussure is widely acknowledged as the father of structuralism (though he himself never used the word, merely referring to the concept of langue [language] as a sign

2038 words

Citation: Mevel, Pierre-Alexis. "Cours de linguistique générale". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 01 November 2010 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=19828, accessed 28 March 2024.]

19828 Cours de linguistique générale 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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