A linguistic system is a series of differences of sound combined with a series of differences of ideas...
Ferdinand De SaussureRead
Whitney wanted to eradicate the idea that in the case of a language we are dealing with a natural faculty; in fact, social institutions stand opposed to natural institutions.
Interpretation
Language is shaped by social institutions rather than being a natural instinct.
Ferdinand De Saussure emphasizes that language should not be viewed as a mere natural faculty inherent to humans. Instead, it is significantly influenced and constructed by societal norms and institutions, suggesting a complex interaction between social forces and linguistic development.
In practice
In a lecture on linguistics, this quote highlights the importance of understanding language as a social construct.
A linguistic system is a series of differences of sound combined with a series of differences of ideas...
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.
Psychologically our thought-apart from its expression in words-is only a shapeless and indistinct mass.
Any psychology of sign systems will be part of social psychology - that is to say, will be exclusively social; it will involve the same psychology as is applicable in the case of languages.
Written forms obscure our view of language. They are not so much a garment as a disguise.
Speech has both an individual and a social side, and we cannot conceive of one without the other.
Ambition, and Covetousnesse are Passions that are perpetually incumbent, and pressing.
Making coffee has become the great compromise of the decade. It's the only thing "real" men do that doesn't seem to threaten their masculinity. To women, it's on the same domestic entry level as putting the spring back into the toilet-tissue holder or taking a chicken out of the freezer to thaw.
Fate finds for every man; his share of misery.
I'm one of those introverted people who simply feels a lot better after spending time alone thinking through ideas and emotions. This is a sign, I've come to think, of a kind of emotional disturbance - a reaction to inner fragility. I wish I were more able to just act and do, rather than constantly have to retreat and examine and think.
And to the degree that the individual maintains a show before others that he himself does not believe, he can come to experience a special kind of alienation from self and a special kind of wariness of others.
Only the peak feels so sound and stable that the beginning of the falling is hidden for a little while.
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