Course in General Linguistics

321 Pages·1916·2.948 MB·English

by  Ferdinand de Saussure

The founder of modern linguistics, Ferdinand de Saussure S
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inaugurated semiology, structuralism, and deconstruction and made possible the u
work of Jacques Derrida, Roland Barthes, Michel Foucault, and Jacques Lacan, thus s
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enabling the development of French feminism, gender studies, New Historicism, and u
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postcolonialism. Based on Saussure’s lectures, Course in General Linguistics (1916) e
traces the rise and fall of the historical linguistics in which Saussure was trained,
the synchronic or structural linguistics with which he replaced it, and the new
look of diachronic linguistics that followed this change. Most important, Saussure
presents the principles of a new linguistic science that includes the invention
of semiology, or the theory of the “signifier,” the “signified,” and the “sign” that EC
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they combine to produce.
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This is the first critical edition of Course in General Linguistics to appear in English du
and restores Wade Baskin’s original translation of 1959, in which the terms “signifier” br Course in
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and “signified” are introduced into English in this precise way. Baskin renders Ps
Saussure clearly and accessibly, allowing readers to experience his shift of the theory ee
of reference from mimesis to performance and his expansion of poetics to include rr
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all media, including the life sciences and environmentalism. An introduction situates Mn General Linguistics
Saussure within the history of ideas and describes the history of scholarship that e
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made Course in General Linguistics legendary. New endnotes enlarge Saussure’s se
contexts to include literary criticism, cultural studies, and philosophy. l ae Ferdinand de Saussure
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“I am delighted that Wade Baskin’s classic translation is back in print, especially He
since Saussy and Meisel’s judicious updating and summary of recent scholarly ar Translated by Wade Baskin
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discoveries make this an invaluable resource for English readers.” n
Jonathan Culler, Cornell University Sl Edited by Perry Meisel and Haun Saussy
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Ferdinand de Saussure (1857–1913) received his doctorate from the University of ssyin
Leipzig in 1880 and lectured on ancient and modern languages in Paris until 1891. g
He then taught Sanskrit and Indo-European languages at the University of Geneva
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until the end of his life. Among his published works is Memoir on the Primitive
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System of Vowels in Indo-European Languages, published in 1878 when Saussure s
was twenty-one. t
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Wade Baskin (1924–1974) was a professor of languages at Southeastern Oklahoma c
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State University and translated many works from French, including books by
Jean-Paul Sartre.
Perry Meisel is professor of English at New York University. His books include The
Myth of the Modern, The Literary Freud, and The Myth of Popular Culture.
Haun Saussy is university professor in the Department of Comparative Literature
at the University of Chicago. His books include The Problem of a Chinese Aesthetic
and Great Walls of Discourse.
C
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COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS M
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IA
cup.columbia.edu
Printed in the U.S.A.
Course in General Linguistics

Course in General Linguistics
Ferdinand de Saussure
Translated by Wade Baskin
Edited by Perry Meisel and Haun Saussy
Columbia University Press
New York
Columbia University Press
Publishers Since 1893
New York Chichester, West Sussex
Copyright © 1959, 1987 The Philosophical Library, Inc.
New material copyright © 2011 Columbia University Press
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Saussure, Ferdinand de, 1857–1913.
[Cours de linguistique generale. English]
Course in general linguistics / Ferdinand de Saussure ; translated by
Wade Baskin ; edited by Perry Meisel and Haun Saussy.
p. cm.
Translation of Cours de linguistique generale.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-231-15726-1 (cloth : alk. paper)—ISBN 978-0-231-15727-8
(pbk. : alk. paper)—ISBN 978-0-231-52795-8 (e-book)
1. Language and languages. 2. Comparative linguistics. I. Baskin,
Wade. II. Meisel, Perry. III. Saussy, Haun, 1960– IV. Title.
P121.S363 2011
410—dc22 2010053912
Columbia University Press books are printed on permanent and durable
acid-free paper.
This book is printed on paper with recycled content.
Printed in the United States of America
c 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
p 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Editors’ Preface and Acknowledgments ix
Textual Note xi
Introduction: Saussure and His Contexts xv
COURSE IN GENERAL LINGUISTICS
Translator’s Introduction xlix
Preface to the First Edition liii
INTRODUCTION
Chapter I. A Glance at the History of Linguistics 1
Chapter II. Subject Matter and Scope of Linguistics;
Its Relations with Other Sciences 6
Chapter III. The Object of Linguistics 7
Chapter IV. Linguistics of Language and Linguistics
of Speaking 17
Chapter V. Internal and External Elements of
Language 20
Chapter VI. Graphic Representation of Language 23
Chapter VII. Phonology 32
APPENDIX
PRINCIPLES OF PHONOLOGY
Chapter I. Phonological Species 38
Chapter II. Phonemes in the Spoken Chain 49
vi CONTENTS
PART ONE
GENERAL PRINCIPLES
Chapter I. Nature of the Linguistic Sign 65
Chapter II. Immutability and Mutability of the Sign 71
Chapter III. Static and Evolutionary Linguistics 79
PART TWO
SYNCHRONIC LINGUISTICS
Chapter I. Generalities 101
Chapter II. The Concrete Entities of Language 102
Chapter III. Identities, Realities, Values 107
Chapter IV. Linguistic Value 111
Chapter V. Syntagmatic and Associative Relations 122
Chapter VI. Mechanism of Language 127
Chapter VII. Grammar and Its Subdivisions 134
Chapter VIII. Role of Abstract Entities in Grammar 137
PART THREE
DIACHRONIC LINGUISTICS
Chapter I. Generalities 140
Chapter II. Phonetic Changes 143
Chapter III. Grammatical Consequences of
Phonetic Evolution 153
Chapter IV. Analogy 161
Chapter V. Analogy and Evolution 168
Chapter VI. Folk Etymology 173
Chapter VII. Agglutination 176
Chapter VIII. Diachronic Unities, Identities,
and Realities 179
Appendices to Parts Three and Four 183
CONTENTS vii
PART FOUR
GEOGRAPHICAL LINGUISTICS
Chapter I. Concerning the Diversity of Languages 191
Chapter II. Complication of Geographical Diversity 193
Chapter III. Causes of Geographical Diversity 197
Chapter IV. Spread of Linguistic Waves 205
PART FIVE
CONCERNING RETROSPECTIVE
LINGUISTICS
Chapter I. The Two Perspectives of Diachronic
Linguistics 212
Chapter II. The Oldest Language and the Prototype 215
Chapter III. Reconstructions 218
Chapter IV. The Contribution of Language to
Anthropology and Prehistory 222
Chapter V. Language Families and
Linguistic Types 228
Errata 233
Notes 235
Works Cited 239
Index 245

Editors(cid:146) Preface and
Acknowledgments
A new English text of Saussure’s C ourse in General Linguistics
(1916) is long overdue. Wade Baskin’s splendid original transla-
tion (1959) is now unavailable, and a proper edition of the Course
in English has never been done. Saussure was granted full-scale
academic editions fi rst in Italian (1967) and German (1968,
1974), and, with a French translation of de Mauro’s apparatus,
at last in French (de Mauro 1972). Baskin’s modest translation
was his doctoral dissertation at Columbia (1956) and sports
only a brief translator’s introduction appended to the unorna-
mented fi rst French text of 1916, which contains only the brief
introductory commentary by those students of Saussure who
assembled the text of the Course from the notes of his lectures
(Bally and Sechehaye 1916). Roy Harris’s English translation
of 1983 also presents Saussure’s text unornamented except for
polemical annotations.
Our labors have been divided as follows: Perry Meisel has
written the principal parts of the introduction. Haun Saussy
has provided a sketch of Saussure’s life and described in d etail
the many versions of the Course discovered in other sources
since 1916, including the consequences each one has for un-
derstanding, and misunderstanding, what Saussure has to
say. Saussy’s notes to this new edition widen the traditional
focus on Saussure as linguist to include his epochal infl uence
on the human sciences as a whole. An annotated textual note
follows this preface outlining reference protocols for this new
edition.
We wish to thank our editor, Jennifer Crewe; Jonathan Culler;
Regeen Runes Najar; and Wade Baskin Jr. Thanks also to Natalie
Adler, Naomi McDougall Jones, Michael Miller, Rachel Tanner,
and Lindsay Welsch. Thanks to Chris Gisonny for preparation
of the manuscript.