Ferdinand de Saussure
Ferdinand de Saussure was a Swiss linguist and semiotician whose ideas laid a foundation for many significant developments in both linguistics and semiology in the 20th century. He is widely considered one of the fathers of 20th-century linguistics and his ideas have had a monumental impact on the development of linguistic theory. Saussure's concept of the linguistic sign, which comprises the signifier (the form of a word) and the signified (the concept it represents), is a central idea in structuralist linguistics.
Books
This list of books are ONLY the books that have been ranked on the lists that are aggregated on this site. This is not a comprehensive list of all books by this author.
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1. The Course In General Linguistics
"The Course in General Linguistics" is a foundational text in the field of linguistics that outlines the principles of structural linguistics and introduces key concepts such as the linguistic sign, the distinction between langue (language as a system) and parole (language as used in context), and the idea of synchronic versus diachronic analysis. The work emphasizes the arbitrary nature of the sign, which consists of the signifier (the form of the word or phrase) and the signified (the conceptual meaning). This book, compiled from notes by students from the lectures given by its author, has had a profound impact on the development of linguistic theory and has influenced various other disciplines, including anthropology, psychology, and literary theory.
The 5517th Greatest Book of All Time
