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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

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Ferdinand de Saussure
Age: 55 †
Born: 1857
Born: November 26
Died: 1913
Died: February 22
Linguist
Pedagogue
Philosopher
Phonologist
Sociologist
University Teacher
Genève
Saussure
General
Recognise
Law
Branch
Linguists
Language
Phenomena
Linguistics
Another
Languages
Restricted
Branches
Universally
Manner
Separating
Rational
Operating
Laws
Strictly

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The first of these phases is that of grammar, invented by the Greeks and carried on unchanged by the French. It never had any philosophical view of a language as such.
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The business, task or object of the scientific study of languages will if possible be 1) to trace the history of all known languages. Naturally this is possible only to a very limited extent and for very few languages.
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Within speech, words are subject to a kind of relation that is independent of the first and based on their linkage: these are syntagmatic relations, of which I have spoken.
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Written forms obscure our view of language. They are not so much a garment as a disguise.
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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.
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