语言学名家简介1.F.deSaussure(1857—1913)FerdinanddeSaussurewasagreatSwisslinguistattheturnofthe20thcentury.Thoughhewasenormouslyinfluentialasateacher,lecturingattheÉcoledesHautesÉtudesinParisfrom1881to1891andasprofessorofIndo-EuropeanlinguisticsandSanskrit(1901—1913)andofgenerallinguistics(1907—1913)attheUniversityofGeneva,hedidnothavehisideaspublishedduringhislifetimebecauseofhispersistentsearchforperfection.Threeyearsafterhisdeath,acompilationofnotesonhislecturesbytwoofhisstudents.BallyandSechehaye,waspublishedwiththetitletheCourseinGeneralLinguistics,whichsoonbecamethemostinfluentiallinguisticworksatthattime.Saussureestablishedthestructuralstudyoflanguage,emphasizingthearbitraryrelationshipofthelinguisticsigntothatwhichitsignifies.Healsocontendedthatlanguagemustbeconsideredasocialphenomenon,astructuredsystemthatcanbeviewedsynchronicallyanddiachronicallybutheinsistedthatthemethodologyofeachapproachisdistinctandmutuallyexclusive.Healsointroducedtwotermsthathavebecomecommoncurrencyinlinguistics—“parole”,thespeechoftheindividualperson,and“langue”,thesystematic,structuredlanguageexistingatagiventimewithinagivensociety.Saussureadvocatedmoreimportancetobeattachedto“langue”ratherthan“parole”,andsuggestedthatthediachronicalratherthanthesynchronicalapproachbeadoptedbythelinguistsathistime.Hiscreativeideasonthetheoreticalandmethodologicalorientationoflanguageresearchhavebeensowidelyacceptedthatheisgenerallyregardedasthefatherofmodernlinguistics.2.O.Jespersen(1860—1943)1OttoJespersenwasaninternationallyinfluentialDanishlinguist.HewasborninRandersinnorthernJutlandandattendedCopenhagenUniversity,earningdegreesinEnglish,French,andLatin.HealsostudiedlinguisticsatOxford.JespersenwasaprofessorofEnglishatCopenhagenUniversityfrom1893to1925.AlongwithPaulPassy,hewasafounderoftheInternationalPhoneticAssociation.HewasavocalsupporterandactivedeveloperofartificialinternationallanguagessuchasEsperanto.HewasalsoinvolvedinthedelegationthatcreatedtheartificiallanguageIdoandla...
