Ferdinand de Saussure: biography of this pioneer of linguistics

Ferdinand de Saussure is known as the founder of modern linguistics and semiotics, as well as one of the forerunners of structuralism and poststructuralism. It is so because he, among other things, proposed to reorganize the systematic study of language. However, his life and work not only had an impact on that area.

Along with some of his contemporaries, Saussure contributed important elements to create new foundations in the study of human behavior. Then we will do a review of the life of Ferdinand de Saussure through a short biography and we present some of his contributions.

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Biography of Ferdinand de Saussure pioneer of linguistics

Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913) was born in Geneva, Switzerland. From a very young age he learned different languages, such as Greek, French, German, English and Latin.. Having grown up in a family of scientists, he studied natural sciences at the University of Geneva.

Later he trained in linguistics at the University of Leipzig, where he obtained a doctorate in 1881. After this he taught ancient and modern language courses in Paris, and in 1891 he returned to Geneva.

In his hometown he served as a teacher of Sanskrit and historical linguistics. It was until 1906 when he taught the General Linguistics course, which focused much of his and other intellectuals' attention to this day.

Ferdinand de Saussure developed the theory of signs that we know as semiotics, as well as other aspects of the linguistic tradition. However, the impact of his work quickly moved to other fields of knowledge.

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From linguistics to the study of human behavior

Along with other intellectuals of his time, Saussure provided many of the foundations for the development of different approaches to human behavior. Following the American linguist Jonathan D. Culler (1986), we are going to explain four of the repercussions that Saussure's work has had on the social sciences.

1. Human systems do not function the same as the physical world

Saussure realized that understanding of human practices and institutions cannot be complete if we reduce explanations of our behavior to a series of events that occur just like world events physical. This is because he considers that, unlike the systems of the physical world, the interaction and the objects that make up a human social system have meanings.

That is why, when studying the behavior of humans, researchers cannot simply dismiss or omit the meanings that things and actions have for members of a society. For example, if people consider some action to be impolite or rude, this is a convention, a social fact crucial for social interaction and for individual practices. Thus, the linguistic sign has, for Saussure, two components: signifier (the word) and the signified (the concept to which the word appeals).

2. Development of semiotics and precursor of structuralism

Among other things, Saussure developed a general science of signs and sign systems (semiotics), as well as some of the bases of structuralism, a current that proposes that sociocultural systems are delimited by a key structure: language.

This was especially relevant to the development of anthropology, modern linguistics, and criticism. However, a few decades later he also reverberates in a good part of psychology and sociology. In general it allowed to rethink the social sciences.

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3. Responses to the Chaos of Modern Thought

Saussure's proposals also clarified much of modern thought, that is, the way in which scientists, philosophers, artists or writers They tried to represent and explain the phenomena of the world.

His work paved the way to generate new paradigms of knowledge: the idea that the scientist cannot obtain absolute knowledge, as if it were a god, but a perspective is always chosen or assumed under which the objects are defined by their relationships with other elements of the same system (beyond the fact that the objects have a fixed essence that can be discovered).

4. Relationship between language and mind

The way in which Saussure explains language makes it possible to focus attention on a problem that is central for the human sciences, especially those concerned with the relationship between language and mind.

Saussure considers that humans are beings whose relationships with the world are characterized by two mental operations that are clearly manifested in language: structuring and differentiation. Part of Saussure's thought is present in the consideration that there is a tendency of the human beings to organize things into systems through which different meanings.

Main works

The best known and most studied work of Ferdinand de Saussure is Cours de linguistique générale (Course in General Linguistics) which was published three years after his death in 1916. In fact, this work has been considered one of the most influential of the 20th century, not only for linguistics but for the social sciences. However, this work is the product of a compilation made by his colleagues Charles Bally and Albert Sechehaye, who recovered the lectures and written notes of Saussure's students.

One of his earliest works, published while he was studying for his doctorate, was Memoire sur le système primitif des voyelles dans les langues Indo-Européennes (Memory of the primitive system of vowels in Indo-European languages), where discusses how the original Indo-European vowels can be reconstructed. This was one of his beginnings in philology and linguistics.

Bibliographic references:

• Culler, J. (1986). Ferdinand de Saussure. Revised Edition. Cornell University Press: USA.
• New World Encyclopedia. (2016). Ferdinand de Saussure. New World Encyclopedia. Retrieved May 15, 2018. Available in http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Ferdinand_de_Saussure