BOOSTED
Saussure and the Beginning of Modern Linguistics
On the Philosophical Mind of the First Modern Linguist
In this story, I would like to present the life and work of one of the most cited figures in the French-speaking humanities: Ferdinand de Saussure (1857–1913).
He was one of the most famous linguists of the 20th century, laying the foundations for nothing less than modern linguistics and semiology. His influence in other areas of the humanities is also well known.
When I was a student at the École Pratique des Hautes Études in Paris, Saussure’s work was always a reference and was well studied by many of my professors and comrades. He was the subject of many formal and informal discussions.
I will first present his life and work from a biobliographical perspective, and then present some conceptual distinctions that made him so famous; these distinctions are quite simple.
The life and work of Ferdinand de Saussure
Saussure was born in Geneva in 1857. He showed a talent for languages at an early age, studying for instance Latin, Greek and Sanskrit.
He began his higher education at the University of Geneva and continued at the University of Leipzig, which was…
