Saussure and His Main Contributions

Saussure and His Main Contributions

Ferdinand de Saussure ( 1857-1913 ) was a Swiss linguist who occupies an important place in the history of linguistics and is generally considered the founder of modern linguistics. It was he who first of all emphasized the importance of viewing language as a living phenomenon. He was the founder of a “theoretic foundation to the newer trend in linguistics study," and European scholars have seldom failed to consider his views when dealing with any theoretical problem. Jonathan Culler (1976) says, "Ferdinand de Saussure is the father of modern linguistics, the man who reorganized the systematic study of language and language in such a way as to make possible the achievements of twentieth-century linguists. This alone would make him a Modern Master: master of a discipline which he made modern."

De Saussure’s contribution to modern linguistics was responsible for three key directions in the study of language. He distinguished between Synchrony and Diachrony, between langue and parole, between signified and signifier. He also contributed by describing the distinction bet6ween syntagmatic and paradigmatic, the theory of associative value. Saussure’s contributions to linguistics are given below:

First, he broke with the young grammarians by pointing the distinction between historical linguistics and the state of language at any point in time. He was determined to delimit and define the boundaries of languge study. To this end he began by distinguishing between historical linguistics and descriptive linguistics, or diachronic and synchronic analyses respectively. The distinction was one that comparative philologists had often confused, but for Saussure landing, subsequently for linguistics it was essential. Synchronic linguistics sees language as a living whole, existing as a "state" at a particular point in time. It is descriptive linguistics that concerns with the state of a language at any point in time, especially the present. According to Saussure, “Synchronic linguistics will be concerned with the logical and psychological relations that bind together co-existing terms and form a system in the collective mind of speakers.”

Diachronic linguistics is the study of language history and change. This was the type of work that characterized most of Saussure's predecessors because the crucial question about language, at least until the 19th century, revolved around discovering the origin of language. Diachronic linguistics deals with the evolution of a language through time, as a continually changing medium-a never-ending succession of language states. Thus we may wish to study the change from Old English to Middle English, or the way in which Shakespeare's style changed from youth to maturity: both would be examples of diachronic study. “Diachronic linguistics will study relations that bind together successive terms not perceived by the collective mind but substituted for each other without forming a system" (Saussure)

Saussure drew the inter-relationship of the two dimensions in the way:
C
A
B
D
Here AB is the synchronic "axis of simultaneities"; CD is the diachronic "axis of successions". AB is a language state at an arbitrarily chosen point in time on the line CD (at X); CD is the historical path the language has traveled, and the route, which it is going to continue traveling. This distinction is significant because synchronic analyses were either ignored or overlooked in the past, and most importantly, the distinction drew attention to the current structural properties of language as well as historical dimensions.

This led to de Saussure's second contribution; the distinction between language and parole. He envisaged language (human speech as a whole) to be composed of two aspects, which are called langue (the language system) and parole (the act of speaking). Langue was considered by Saussure to be the totality of a language, deducible from an examination of the memories of all the language users.

On the other hand, parole "comprises the actual manifestation of the system in speech and writing”. Parole denotes the actual speech act of the individual.

The distinction between langue and parole can be summed up as follows:

01. Langue is a language system shared by a community of speakers.
Parole is the in the individual realization of that system.
02. Langue is a social phenomenon
Parole is am individual phenomenon.
03. Langue is what potential
Parole is what is actual.
04. Langue is a static situation
Parole is a dynamic situation
05. Langue is concept.
Parole is the round image of that concept
06. Langue is a rule
Parole is behaviour.

The distinction between langue and parole also has important implications for other disciplines as well. In distinguishing them we are separating what is social from what is individual.

Saussure's third main theoretical contribution was to clarify the concept of a language system that had the most profound influence on subsequent scholarship. He was really interested in the larger and more abstract system of signs. De Saussure characterized signs as a relationship between "concept" and "sound" to use de Saussure's words signified and signifier. Saussure called this relationship of signified to signifier a linguistic sign. The sign, for him, is the basic unit of communication. The linguistic sign is constituted by the structural relationship between the concept (e.g., "house"---the signified) and the sound of the word "house" (signifier). A language is essentially composed of such structural relationships, and the study of language is the study of the system of signs that express ideas.

Another type of structural relationship in a language system presented by Saussure is syntagmatic and paradigmatic relationship.

Syntagmatic relationship is the combinatorial or again relationship. For example we can come tomorrow is a sentence because in this linear arrangement of words. 'we' is correlated with can, 'can' with come and so on. This relationship is restricted to certain orders. "In the syntagm a term acquires its value because it stands in opposition to everything that precedes or follows or to both” (saussure 1959:123)

The paradigmatic relationships are contrastive or choice relationships. Words that have something in common are associated in the memory ,resulting in groups marked by diverse relations , for example the English word learning is unconsciously call to mind a host of other words-study ,knowledge discipline etc. All these words are related in same way. This kind of relationship is called associative relationship.

We can come tomorrow
We may go next
She will ask soon

According to Saussure the value of each word is determined by its opposition to other words. Values in writing function only through reciprocal opposition within a fixed system which borists of a set number of letters. It is this interdependence among the values of words which transform then all into a uniform language system, and that which pertains to the context or words, retains to their form as well.

The contribution Saussure had on language was revolutionary. His work had a profound influence on many aspects of linguistics. Lastly the following statement from Benevensite will reflect his contribution: "a forerunner in doctrines which in the post fifty years have transformed the theory of language, he has opened us unforgettable vistas on the highest and mysterious faculty of man… he has contributed to the advent of formal thought in the sciences of society and culture and to the founding of a general semiology". There is not a single general theory which doesn't mention him name.

Organs of speech

Vocal cords: vocal cords are two elastic tissues that lie opposite to each other across the windpipe near the larynx. They are united at the front and separated back of the windpipe. The space between them is called glottis. When we breathe in and out, the glottis is open. This is the position of production of the voiceless sounds b,d,g. If the air out paused by the lungs causes these cords to vibrate, the sounds thus produced is known as voiced. P,t,k are examples of this kind.

2. Palate: The palate may be considered as the root of the mouth. It has two parts-hard palate and poet palate.

3. Tongue:Tongue is the most important organ of speech having the greatest variety of movement .It has four parts, viz: lip, blade, front, and back. It is the tongue which is largely responsible for the differences in the sounds of various vowels.

4. Lips: Like the tongue, lips are again very important organs of the mouth for producing the whole colourful range of sounds used in human speech. Lips can take various positions.

5. Uvula: It is known as 'smaller tongue’, it is the pendulum like end of the poet palate.

6. Larynx: popularly known as Adam's apple, it is the upper end of the windpipe which contains and protects the vocal cords.

7. Gullet: This is known as the fond food passage.

The place of articulation

The place of articulation refers to the particular place and position of the speech organs wherefrom a consonant is articulated. Followings are the places of articulation which are used in describing a consonant.

01. Bilabial: Bilabial sounds are those sounds made by the articulation of our lips against each other. P, b, m, w are the examples of these kinds.
02. Labio-Dental: Labio-Dental sounds are those sounds made by the articulation of the lower lip towards the upper teeth. F, V is the example of this kind.
03. Dental: sounds are those sounds made by the articulation of the tip of the tongue towards upper teeth. ∂,
04. Alveolar: alveolar sounds are those sounds made by the articulation of the tip of the tongue towards the alveolar ridge. T, d, s, z, l are the example of these kinds.
05. Post- Alveolar: it is articulated by the tip of the tongue placed against the immediate back of the Post- Alveolar. ‘R’ is the example of this kind.
06. Palatal: these sounds are articulated by the front of the tongue against the hard palate. ‘J’ is the example of this kind.
07. Velar: this sound is produced when the back of the tongue is raised against the soft palate. K, ‘g’ is the example of this kind.
08. Glottal: this sound is produced in the glotus. ‘H’ is the example of this kind.

Scope of Linguistics

Scope of Linguistics

 

The scope of Linguistics is vast and huge. And its covers a wide range of fields and topics. Thus, Phonetics is concerned with the sounds of languages, phonology with the way sounds are used in individual languages, morphology with the structure of words, syntax with the structure of phrases and sentences, and semantics with the study of meaning. A number of linguistic fields study the relations between language and the subject matter of related academic disciplines, such as sociolinguistics (sociology and language) and psycholinguistics (psychology and language). In principle, applied linguistics is any application of linguistic methods or results to solve problems related to language, but in practice it tends to be restricted to second-language instruction. However, the scope of Linguistics is given below:

 

Phonetics (from the Greek: φωνή, phōnē, "sound, voice") is the subfield of linguistics that comprises the study of the physical sounds of human speech. It is concerned with the physical properties of speech sounds (phones), and the processes of their physiological production, auditory reception, and neurophysiological perception.

 

Phonetics was studied as early as 2,500 years ago in ancient India, with Pālini's account of the place and manner of articulation of consonants in his 5th century BC treatise on Sanskrit. The major Indic alphabets today order their consonants according to Pālini's classification.

 

It is the scientific study of the production, transmission and reception of speech sounds. It studies the medium of spoken language, touching upon physiology and physici, phonetics is now a pure science that studies speech processes including the anatomy, neurology and pathology of speech, as well as the articulation, description, production and perception of speech sounds. The study of phonetics can divides hoto three main branches - Articulatory Phonetici studies the speech organs, which produce sounds of language ; Acoustic phonetics studies the physical properties of speech sounds such as frequency and amplitude in their transmission, and Auditory Phonetics studies the way in which human beings perceive sounds through the medium of the ear.Phonetics studies the defining characteristics of all human vocal noise, and concentrates its attention on these sounds which occur in the languages of the world. In other words, Phonetics try to study how the various organs of speech the lungs, the larynx, the soft palate, the tongue and the lip function in the production of speech.

 

Semantics (derived from Greek semantikos, "significant"), the study of the meaning of linguistic signs— that is, words, expressions, and sentences. Scholars of semantics try to answer such questions as "What is the meaning of (the word) X?" They do this by studying what signs are, as well as how signs possess significance—that is, how they are intended by speakers, how they designate (make reference to things and ideas), and how they are interpreted by hearers. The goal of semantics is to match the meanings of signs—what they stand for—with the process of assigning those meanings.

 

The shorter Oxford Dictionary glosses the term Semantics as "relating to signification or meaning". Broadly speaking, semantics is the aspect of linguistics which deals with the relations between referents (names) and referends  (things) that is linguistic levels (words, expressions, phrases) and the objects or concepts or ideas to which they refer - and with the history and changes in the meaning of words. A semanticist would like to find how a man is able to paraphrase, transform, and detect ambiguities and why the surrounding words sometimes force him to choose one interpretation rather than another. A semantic analysis, for example, of English must also explain antonyms, Synonyms, Hononyms and transformations of the language.

 

Phonology: Phonology (Greek 'phone' means voice , sound and 'logos' means word, speech) is essentially the description of the systems and patterns of speech sounds in a language. It is, in effect, based on a theory of what every speaker of a language unconsciously knows about the sound patterns of that language. Because of this theoretical status, phonology is concerned with the abstract or mental of the sounds in language rather than with the actual physical articulation of speech sounds. Phonology is about the underlying design, the blueprint of the sound type, which serves as the constant basis of all the variations in different physical articulations of that sound type in different contexts.

 

Thus, when we think of the (t) sound in the words star, writer, and eighth as being the same, we actually mean that in the Phonology of English, they would be represented in the same way. In actual speech, these (t) sounds are all very important.

 

Considered from this point of view, we can see that Phonology is concerned with the abstract set of sounds in a language which allows us to distinguish meaning in the actual physical sounds we say and hear.

 

Grammar: Etymologically, the term grammar goes back to a Greek word grammatika or grammatika techne which may be translated as 'the art of writing'. But for a long time this term has been used very loosely to incorporate the whole study of language. The Greeks considered grammar to be a branch philosophy concerned with the art of writing. By the Middle Ages grammar had come to be regarded as a set of rules, usually in the form of a text-book, dictating 'correct' usage. So in the widest and the traditional sense, grammar came to mean a set of normative and prescriptive rules in order to set us a standard of 'correct usage'. And grammar was both the art and the science of language. The grammarian until the nineteenth century was the law-give. Though it is still a valid interpretation for a law man, no contemporary or modern linguist will accept this definition of grammar in our age.

 

Around the central core of the Linguistics, are various branches of linguistics: such as Psycholinguistics, Sociolinguistics, Neurolinguistics, anthropological Linguistic, Cognitive linguistics, Generative linguistics.

 

Psycholinguistics: Psycholinguistics or psychology of language is the study of the psychological and neurobiological factors that enable humans to acquire, use, and understand language. Modern research makes use of biology, neuroscience, cognitive science, and information theory to study how the brain processes language. Psycholinguistics covers the cognitive processes that make it possible to generate a grammatical and meaningful sentence out of vocabulary and grammatical structures, as well as the processes that make it possible to understand utterances, words, text, etc. Developmental psycholinguistics studies children's ability to learn language.

 

Sociolinguistics: is the study of the effect of any and all aspects of society, including cultural norms, expectations, and context, on the way language is used. Sociolinguistics overlaps to a considerable degree with pragmatics.

 

It also studies how dialects differ between groups separated by certain social variables, e.g., ethnicity, religion, status, gender, level of education, age, etc., and how creation and adherence to these rules is used to categorize individuals in social class or socio-economic classes. As the usage of a language varies from place to place (dialect), language usage varies among social classes, and it is these sociolects that sociolinguistics studies.