Foundational Linguistic Concepts: Saussure & Coseriu
Ferdinand de Saussure’s Linguistic Theory
The scientific study of Saussure’s language. His structural theory analyzes language and the differences that determine, for example, adjectives and verbs. He established classifications; linguistics is internal. His methodology, which proposes structured language, is one of language signs, each acquiring elements of opposition to others. It emerged from the desire to perform a scientific study of language independently, without regard to historical factors of its evolution. It studies its internal structure from an immanent, synchronous perspective.
Langue / Parole Dichotomy
Langue refers to the real system that all speakers of a linguistic community handle. It’s a system inherited by traditional signs. It can be classified as a virtual, abstract member, shared by all speakers.
Parole (speech) is each time the inherited system manifests itself. It is classified as: specific, selective, and individual. They are two opposing and complementary realities. One cannot exist without the other. Saussure’s study will emphasize langue, leaving parole aside.
Characteristics of the Linguistic Sign
- Arbitrariness: Absence of internal or external motivation (e.g., onomatopoeia). Over time, words can become demotivated and change.
- Linearity
- Immutability / Mutability
Two Types of Relationships
- Syntagmatic (permutation): Signs co-present in discourse, for example, ‘young tall’.
- Paradigmatic (commutation): Signs that are absent or could be present, for example, ‘girl’ – synonymy: ‘boy’, ‘lad’.
Double Articulation of Language
The concept of double articulation refers to how language is structured:
- First Articulation: Minimum units that signify meaning are called monemes.
- Second Articulation: These are phonemes. Units that can be decomposed but do not have single significants, e.g., /k/, /a/, /s/, /a/.
Articulated language can be decomposed into smaller units. It can be hierarchized (based on Martinet’s premise). This interpretation was criticized; it’s not necessarily a joint correspondence (G. Red). The phoneme can be decomposed into distinctive features.
Eugenio Coseriu: Standard, Norm, and Speech
The Linguistic Standard
Coseriu’s View: Refers to the normal, habitual uses within an original community. When we speak, our usage forms part of a community. This interpretation is descriptive.
What should be ruled, appropriate or inadequate, a model of correction, a pattern (e.g., Academies), has prescriptive characteristics. These are established rules distinguishing what is right and what is not.
Coseriu’s concept of the standard relates to a standardizing process, a common feature of groupings within a set of speakers. For creationists, standard references are educated speakers, writers, and intellectuals. We can claim the standardizing process is descriptive.
Sociolinguistics, as a discipline, provides considerable data for the creation of the standard process. Normalization converts normal, habitual linguistic uses among cultured speakers into a pattern, a model of correction.
Example: ‘I saw him’ (leísmo) can be normalized from being prescriptive. This process is prescriptive, prescribing what is wrong or not.
Coseriu’s System: Language, Norm, and Speech
This system refines Saussure’s dichotomy regarding langue and parole. According to Coseriu, langue and parole have social features (community). When we speak frequently, the models of use have repetitions called Standard. This repetition of normal, habitual uses in a community of speakers is an intermediary between langue and parole.
- Langue: Similar to Saussure, it’s the real system that all speakers of a linguistic community handle. An inherited system of traditional signs.
- Parole: The individual embodiment of langue.
The Linguistic Norm
The norm can be classified as:
- Diatopic: Refers to habitual uses in a context of speakers corresponding to a specific geographic area, relating to dialectology.
- Diastratic: Normal uses repeated in different sociolinguistic strata, e.g., cultured or popular levels.
- Diaphasic: Normal uses repeated in specific sociolinguistic situations.