Saussure Linguistics Quotes & Sayings

It is one of the aims of linguistics to define itself, to recognise what belongs within its domain. In those cases where it relies upon psychology, it will do so indirectly, remaining independent. — Ferdinand De Saussure

Biden said that in Syria the US had found that there was no moderate middle because the moderate middle are made up of shopkeepers, not soldiers. — Patrick Cockburn

I would rather have a good education and no money, than to have a fortune and be ignorant. — George Armstrong Custer

Speech has both an individual and a social side, and we cannot conceive of one without the other. — Ferdinand De Saussure

The entire destiny of modern linguistics is in fact determined by Saussure's inaugural act through which he separates the 'external' elements of linguistics from the 'internal' elements, and, by reserving the title of linguistics for the latter, excludes from it all the investigations which establish a relationship between language and anthropology, the political history of those who speak it, or even the geography of the domain where it is spoken, because all of these things add nothing to a knowledge of language taken in itself. Given that it sprang from the autonomy attributed to language in relation to its social conditions of production, reproduction and use, structural linguistics could not become the dominant social science without exercising an ideological effect, by bestowing the appearance of scientificity on the naturalization of the products of history, that is, on symbolic objects. — Pierre Bourdieu

Us Asians look like we're twenty until we're fifty. Once we're fifty, we look like Yoda. — Dat Phan

Love shouldn't be about jealousy or anything like that. It should be about commitment and being able to trust that person. If you can't have that from the get-go, there's a problem. — Aaron Carter

I first became aware of Charles Darwin and evolution while still a schoolboy growing up in Chicago. My father and I had a passion for bird-watching, and when the snow or the rain kept me indoors, I read his bird books and learned about evolution. — James D. Watson

It is only since linguistics has become more aware of its object of study, i.e. perceives the whole extent of it, that it is evident that this science can make a contribution to a range of studies that will be of interest to almost anyone. — Ferdinand De Saussure

Linguistics will have to recognise laws operating universally in language, and in a strictly rational manner, separating general phenomena from those restricted to one branch of languages or another. — Ferdinand De Saussure

I'm simply not afraid. It's not in my dictionary of behaviour. — Werner Herzog

The smell of the carpet in a hotel room is the same everywhere. — Linda Ronstadt

The critical principle demanded an examination, for instance, of the contribution of different periods, thus to some extent embarking on historical linguistics. — Ferdinand De Saussure

In general, the philological movement opened up countless sources relevant to linguistic issues, treating them in quite a different spirit from traditional grammar; for instance, the study of inscriptions and their language. But not yet in the spirit of linguistics. — Ferdinand De Saussure