Saussure
Signs, System and Arbitrariness

This book offers a critical assessment of Saussure's central ideas.

David Holdcroft (Author)

9780521339186, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 26 April 1991

196 pages, 20 b/w illus.
21.5 x 13.7 x 1.3 cm, 0.353 kg

"A concise, clear and sophisticated critique of Saussure's thought, this small book should do much good." Times Literary Supplement

The Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913) has exerted a profound influence not only on twentieth century linguistics but on a whole range of disciplines within the humanities and social sciences. His central thesis was that the primary object in studying a language is the state of that language at a particular time – a so-called synchronic study. He went on to claim that a language state is a socially constituted system of signs that are quite arbitrary and that can only be defined in terms of their relationship within the system. This new perspective has changed the way people think about linguistics and has led to important attempts to apply structuralist ideas in anthropology, literary criticism, and philosophy. Professor Holdcroft's book expounds and elaborates Saussure's central ideas. It also offers a critical assessment of them, arguing that many of Saussure's claims are either questionable or have been misunderstood.

Preface
Introduction
1. Saussure's work: its context and significance
2. The distinction between langue and parole
3. Language as a system of signs, I: signs, arbitrariness, linearity, and change
4. Language as a system of signs, II: diachronic and synchronic linguistics
5. Language as a system of signs, III: identities, system, and relations
6. Language as a system of signs, IV: values, differences, and reality
7. Successes and failures
Notes
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Western philosophy, from c 1900 - [HPCF]