Ferdinand De Saussure

Ferdinand De Saussure was a Swiss linguist whose ideas laid the foundation for many of the significant developments in linguistics in the twentieth century. He is considered as the 'Father of modern Linguistics' and his work laid the foundation for the approach known as structuralism. One of the hallmark of the structuralist theory is that nothing can be understood in isolation. He is also the founding father of semiotics. Semiotics is the systematic study of sign system or process also known as semiosis. Saussure's most influential work, a book "Course in General Linguistic" was published posthumously in 1961 by his former students on the basis of notes taken from Saussure's lecture at The University of Geneva. Saussure has proposed many concepts such as distinction between langue and parole,semiotic study of signified and signifier, synchronic and diachronic view of language and paradigmatic v/s syntagmatic relation of language.

          Langue and Parole

Langue is the overall knowledge of  language which is shared by society. It is a larger phenomena and is believed to be a universal structure. Parole is the actual act of using the data of the knowledge shared by society. Parole means speech. It is an individual utterance and parole is known to have been changed and manipulated by a number of causes. For example time, social groups, and age of users.

          Signified and Signifier

 Every sign is made up of two constituent parts signified and signifier. Signified is the concept or the image which come in our mind when we say something and signifier is a word. For example, if we are talking about tree then the image of the tree which came in our mind is signified and the word or spelling 'TREE' is the signifier.

          Synchronic and Diachronic

 Synchronic and diachronic are the two different and complementary viewpoints in linguistic analysis. Synchronic linguistic aims at describing a language at a specific point of time usually the present. On contrasted to this Diachronic approach considers the development and evolution of language through history.

          Syntagmatic and Paradigmatic

 In syntagmatic relation of language sign occurs in sequence and operate together to form meaning. In paradigmatic relation of language an individual signs can be replaced by one another.

          Conclusion


Language, according to Saussure, is a system of arbitrary sign. A signifier and signified constitute a sign which, in turn, has both synchronic/ diachronic and syntadmatic/paradigmatic dimensions.

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