Able Quote by Ferdinand de Saussure

“It is useful to the historian, among others, to be able to see the commonest forms of different phenomena, whether phonetic, morphological or other, and how language lives, carries on and changes over time.” quote by Ferdinand de Saussure — Download Open image

“It is useful to the historian, among others, to be able to see the commonest forms of different phenomena, whether phonetic, morphological or other, and how language lives, carries on and changes over time.”

Ferdinand de Saussure

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More by Ferdinand de Saussure

Nearly all institutions, it might be said, are based on signs, but these signs do not directly evoke things.

Ferdinand de Saussure

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In general, the philological movement opened up countless sources relevant to linguistic issues, treating them in quite a different spirit from traditional grammar; for…

Ferdinand de Saussure

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The ultimate law of language is, dare we say, that nothing can ever reside in a single term. This is a direct consequence of the fact that linguistic signs are unrelated to what they designate and that, therefore, 'a' cannot designate anything without the the aid of 'b' and vice versa, or, in other words, that both have value only…

Ferdinand de Saussure

It is only since linguistics has become more aware of its object of study, i.e. perceives the whole extent of it, that it is…

Ferdinand de Saussure

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A language presupposes that all the individual users possess the organs.

Ferdinand de Saussure

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Of all social institutions language is least amenable to initiative. It blends with the life of society, and the latter, inert by nature, is…

Ferdinand de Saussure

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The business, task or object of the scientific study of languages will if possible be 1) to trace the history of all known languages.…

Ferdinand de Saussure

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The first of these phases is that of grammar, invented by the Greeks and carried on unchanged by the French. It never had any…

Ferdinand de Saussure

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Written forms obscure our view of language. They are not so much a garment as a disguise.

Ferdinand de Saussure

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Everyone, left to his own devices, forms an idea about what goes on in language which is very far from the truth.

Ferdinand de Saussure

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Time changes all things; there is no reason why language should escape this universal law

Ferdinand de Saussure

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Linguistics will have to recognise laws operating universally in language, and in a strictly rational manner, separating general phenomena from those restricted to one…

Ferdinand de Saussure

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Explore all 30 Ferdinand de Saussure quotes

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