A guide to the science of language: Ferdinand de Saussure’s central concepts in linguistics

Abstract

This study focuses on the central concepts put forward by Ferdinand de Saussure in the field of linguistics. In the 20th century, linguistics began to develop in various perspectives, and it would not be wrong to acknowledge that famous Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure made a notable contribution to the emergence of those theories. Saussure, the central examination of the present study, scrutinizes language as a structured system of signs and introduces many ideas that have shaped the development of language studies. In this context, the paper defines and thoroughly elucidates the terms that Saussure pioneered to present his theory of language. The research includes expressions on the nature of the language, its origin, and functioning from Saussure’s linguistic point of views. Therefore, we would like to believe that this research constitutes a contribution to the elaboration of linguistic theory and Saussure’s ideas of what language really is.