Saussure, Ferdinand de (fĕrdēnäN` də sōsür`), 1857–1913, Swiss linguist. One of the founders of modern linguistics linguistics, scientific study of language , covering the structure (morphology and syntax; see grammar ), sounds ( phonology ), and meaning ( semantics ), as well as the history of the relations of languages to each other and the cultural place of language in human
..... Click the link for more information. , he established the structural study of language, emphasizing the arbitrary relationship of the linguistic sign to that which it signifies. Saussure distinguished synchronic linguistics (studying language at a given moment) from diachronic linguistics (studying the changing state of a language over time); he further opposed what he named langue (the state of a language at a certain time) to parole (the speech of an individual). Saussure's most influential work is the Course in General Linguistics (1916), a compilation of notes on his lectures.

Saussure, Ferdinand de

(born Nov. 26, 1857, Geneva, Switz.—died Feb. 22, 1913, Geneva) Swiss linguist. Though his only written work appeared while he was still a university student, Saussure became very influential as a teacher, principally at the University of Geneva (1901–13). Two of his students reconstructed lecture notes and other materials as Course in General Linguistics (1916), often considered the starting point of 20th-century linguistics. He saw language as a structured system that may be approached both as it exists at a particular time and as it changes over time, and he formalized principles and methods of study for each approach. His concepts may be regarded as the beginning of structuralism.