Contributions Of Ferdinand De Sassure

Language corresponds to countless appellations, as the expresser of thought and ultimate origin of philosophy, influencing the world of knowledge with its astonishing qualities. The very essence of cooperation and communication relies eternally on the inspired art of language, without which any possible human development could occur. Furthermore, the perception of verbal communication splits between two realms, reality and literature, constituting two linguistic variations, figurative and literal. Throughout the world of literature, figurative language adds depth and dimension to

Since creativity allows language to differentiate from place to place, the differences in language have somehow gradually aligned in a hierarchy due to social influence. In “Nine Ideas about Language”, Daniels not only addresses that

In order to provide clarity of language and distinguish this ___ from other ___ Saussure comprises a summarization of four characteristics within language. First and foremost, language is a well-defined object in the heterogeneous mass of speech facts. This means ______. Next, Language, unlike speaking, is something that we can study separately. Thirdly, Whereas speech is heterogeneous, language as defined, is homogenous. The last component of language discusses is Language is concrete no less so than speaking; and this is a help in our study of

“The History of the English Language”. http://www.uni-due.de/SHE/. Univ. of Duisburg Essen. April 2013. Web 4 Oct. 2013.

  Saussure furthermore identified two parts to a basic linguistic unit: the concept and the sound image. The sound image or 'signified' is the image that imprints on your mind at the sound or thought of the word. The 'signifier' is the word that produces this image, whether it is spoken, written or a pictorial equivalent. The 'sign' is the combination and relationship between the 'signifier' and the 'signified'. To explain, whatever the language in which the word 'cat' is spoken (signifier), to a member of that nationality the word will instantly conjure up the idea of a cat (signified). However Saussure stressed that the relationship between the two is strictly arbitrary, they are bound purely by convention

Chomsky and de Saussure are interested in the abstract area of language, or the langue and the “competence”. They were more interested in the system through which meaning is created rather than how the system is used in individual instances. Ahearn criticized this way viewing language and saw it as a narrow way of viewing language. There are various components to language and understanding how people communicate. Context is an important component that influences how something that is expressed is understood. Ahearn believes that the various components of language are

This book is divided into 2 parts, the functions of language and language and thought. The deepest debt of the author in this book is to the general semantics. It is designed to educate the reader using concepts that are first explained in straightforward terms

The Language Wars have been waged in the realm of English Literature, Language and Linguistics for years. Both sides of the argument are staunch believers in their position, but are more than willing to concede points to the other sides’ favour. In Bryan A. Garner’s essay, “Making Peace in the Language Wars”, he describes himself as a ‘descriptive prescriber’ (Garner, Making Peace in the Language Wars 2008, 270), and offers a truce that fulfils both sides of the argument as the crux of his essay. While the separate sides of the argument are relatively easy to define, it seems that no one sticks to them religiously, and the argument is between individuals fighting over individual points. The two sides are that of the descriptivist and that

Language was long thought to be a passageway passagewayfor thought; a go-between that allowed one to translate their pre-existing ideas into a communicable form via sounds, writing, and gesture (Cultural Encounters). However, this understanding shifted upon the introduction of the Sapir-Whorf

In order to provide an example of the evolution of language at least from an individual’s point-of-view, he looks at the development of language from children. At the early age, children are able to learn the “central core of rules”

Key features of language include its words and their sub structures such as morphemes, graphemes and syllables at the writing level as well as reading or speaking, words, their meanings and contexts in which the words get spoken or read. Language has to be interpreted as a whole, and not just as the specific word. There must be an explicit pattern or structure. In order for language to be understood correctly, the meaning of words must be arranged in a given context. This is what constructs language; even though words are arbitrary themselves, in order to integrate as a language, they must be used in the appropriate context. This pre-established cultural context is what will enable effective communication. (Daniel Willingham, 2007, p. 1).

Among the most important concepts to emerge are those relating to dialects and language standards. Sociolinguists have documented the presence of dialects in every language. These dialects, all of which are legitimate, are associated with educational, economic, social and historical conditions. Hence, even if an individual scrupulously studies all the possible dictionaries of a random language, he would still be somewhat of a stranger to that language since he is unaware of all the dialectal changes.

Saussure’s thought nowadays is defined the option of “synchronic linguistics”, the study of language as systems existing at a given point in time. Saussure developed his synchronic linguistics when he taught a course called “General linguistics and the history and

Linguistics has impacted cognitive psychology as the quest to understand language acquisition and the structure of language itself is undertaken. Linguistics is a complex and multifaceted; it includes language structural patterns and language development (Barsalou, 2005). The process of language development is complicated and dense, as the study of language is examined; the role of cognition is inherently examined and analyzed. Sternberg (2006) also explores language as an innate process and presents the idea that humans are born ready for language as a biological and cognitive process.

He seeks to find underlying similarities across these “distinct” languages, to construct a general theory of a singular language. However, it seems as though he cannot be scientifically vindicated without the groundwork being laid down by many of the authors that he is critical of. Thus, it is particularly interesting that Chomsky seems to be so at odds with the idea of descriptivism. When Chomsky says, “Grammar should not be merely a record of the data of usage, but, rather, should offer an explanation for such data,” (587) he is acknowledging the usefulness, presumably to his own theories, of descriptive linguistics. He in fact recognizes the debt he owes when he says, “To me, it seems that [structural linguistics'] major achievement is to have provided a factual and a methodological basis that makes it possible to return to the problems that occupied the traditional universal grammarians...” (590) But he goes on to say, “On the other hand, it seems to me that the substantive contributions to the theory of language structure are few, and that, to a large extent, the concepts of modern linguistics constitute a retrogression as compared with universal grammar.” (590) Where the descriptivists see an end, Chomsky sees only the means, and is somewhat dismissive of them.