Saussure: A Guide For The Perplexed

Saussure: A Guide For The Perplexed PDF

Author: Paul Bouissac

Publisher: A&C Black

Published: 2010-03-21

Total Pages: 160

ISBN-13: 1441186018

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Introduces the reader to the ways in which Saussure developed his revolutionary insights on language in the context of the linguistics of his time.

Saussure

Saussure PDF

Author: John E. Joseph

Publisher: OUP Oxford

Published: 2012-03-22

Total Pages: 794

ISBN-13: 0191636975

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"In a language there are only differences without positive terms. Whether we take the signified or the signifier, the language contains neither ideas nor sounds that pre-exist the linguistic system, but only conceptual differences and phonic differences issuing from this system." (From the posthumous Course in General Linguistics, 1916.) No one becomes as famous as Saussure without both admirers and detractors reducing them to a paragraph's worth of ideas that can be readily quoted, debated, memorized, and examined. One can argue the ideas expressed above - that language is composed of a system of acoustic oppositions (the signifier) matched by social convention to a system of conceptual oppositions (the signified) - have in some sense become "Saussure", while the human being, in all his complexity, has disappeared. In the first comprehensive biography of Ferdinand de Saussure, John Joseph restores the full character and history of a man who is considered the founder of modern linguistics and whose ideas have influenced literary theory, philosophy, cultural studies, and virtually every other branch of humanities and the social sciences. Through a far-reaching account of Saussure's life and the time in which he lived, we learn about the history of Geneva, of Genevese educational institutions, of linguistics, about Saussure's ancestry, about his childhood, his education, the fortunes of his relatives, and his personal life in Paris. John Joseph intersperses all these discussions with accounts of Saussure's research and the courses he taught highlighting the ways in which knowing about his friendships and family history can help us understand not only his thoughts and ideas but also his utter failure to publish any major work after the age of twenty-one.

Saussure's Philosophy of Language as Phenomenology

Saussure's Philosophy of Language as Phenomenology PDF

Author: Beata Stawarska

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2015-02-12

Total Pages: 301

ISBN-13: 019026635X

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This book draws on recent developments in research on Ferdinand de Saussure's general linguistics to challenge the structuralist doctrine associated with the posthumous Course in General Linguistics (1916) and to develop a new philosophical interpretation of Saussure's conception of language based solely on authentic source materials. This project follows two new editorial paradigms: 1. a critical re-examination of the 1916 Course in light of the relevant sources and 2. a reclamation of the historically authentic materials from Saussure's Nachlass, some of them recently discovered. In Stawarska's book, this editorial paradigm shift serves to expose the difficulties surrounding the official Saussurean doctrine with its sets of oppositional pairings: the signifier and the signified; la langue and la parole; synchrony and diachrony. The book therefore puts pressure not only on the validity of the posthumous editorial redaction of Saussure's course in general linguistics in the Course, but also on its structuralist and post-structuralist legacy within the works of Levi-Strauss, Lacan, and Derrida. Its constructive contribution consists in reclaiming the writings from Saussure's Nachlass in the service of a linguistic phenomenology, which intersects individual expression in the present with historically sedimented social conventions. Stawarska develops such a conception of language by engaging Saussure's own reflections with relevant writings by Hegel, Husserl, Roman Jakobson, and Merleau-Ponty. Finally, she enriches her philosophical critique with a detailed historical account of the material and institutional processes that led to the ghostwriting and legitimizing the Course as official Saussurean doctrine.

An Analysis of Ferdinand de Saussure's Course in General Linguistics

An Analysis of Ferdinand de Saussure's Course in General Linguistics PDF

Author: Laura E.B. Key

Publisher: CRC Press

Published: 2017-07-05

Total Pages: 80

ISBN-13: 1351352148

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Ferdinand de Saussure’s Course in General Linguistics is one of the most influential texts of the 20th-century – an astonishing feat for what is, at heart, a series of deeply technical lectures about the structure of human languages. What the Course’s vast influence shows, fundamentally, is the power of good interpretative skills. The interpretative tasks of laying down and clarifying definitions are often vital to providing the logical framework for all kinds of critical thinking – whether it be solving problems in business, or esoteric academic research. At the time sat which Saussure gave his lectures, linguistics was a scattered and inconsistent field, without a unified method or rigorous approach. He aimed to change that by setting down and clarifying definitions and distinctions that would provide a coherent methodological framework for the study of language. The terms laid down in the Course did exactly that – and they still make up the core of linguistic terminology a full century later. More than this, however, Saussure also highlighted the centrality of linguistic interpretation to understanding how we relate to the world, founding “semiotics”, or the study of signs – a field whose influence on academics across the humanities and social sciences is unparalleled.

Grammar West to East

Grammar West to East PDF

Author: Edward McDonald

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2019-11-24

Total Pages: 286

ISBN-13: 9811375976

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This book compares the historical development of ideas about language in two major traditions of linguistic scholarship from either end of Eurasia – the Graeco-Roman and the Sinitic – as well as their interaction in the modern era. It locates the emergence of language analysis in the development of writing systems, and examines the cultural and political functions fulfilled by traditional language scholarship. Moving into the modern period and focusing specifically on the study of “grammar” in the sense of morph syntax/ lexico grammar, it traces the transformation of “traditional” Latin grammar from the viewpoint of its adaptation to Chinese, and discusses the development of key concepts used to characterize and analyze grammatical patterns.

The Barren Epistemology of Jacques Derrida

The Barren Epistemology of Jacques Derrida PDF

Author: Peter Bornedal

Publisher: Lexington Books

Published: 2024-01-15

Total Pages: 209

ISBN-13: 166692718X

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From a Nietzschean perspective, the author disputes the often-postulated lineage between Nietzsche and Derrida. Peter Bornedal argues instead that they have very different epistemological programs: the deconstructionist and postmodernist projects undermine beliefs in reason and logic in a manner that cannot be found in Nietzsche.

The Origin of the Jews

The Origin of the Jews PDF

Author: Steven Weitzman

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2017-05-22

Total Pages: 408

ISBN-13: 1400884934

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The first major history of the scholarly quest to answer the question of Jewish origins The Jews have one of the longest continuously recorded histories of any people in the world, but what do we actually know about their origins? While many think the answer to this question can be found in the Bible, others look to archaeology or genetics. Some skeptics have even sought to debunk the very idea that the Jews have a common origin. In this book, Steven Weitzman takes a learned and lively look at what we know—or think we know—about where the Jews came from, when they arose, and how they came to be. Scholars have written hundreds of books on the topic and have come up with scores of explanations, theories, and historical reconstructions, but this is the first book to trace the history of the different approaches that have been applied to the question, including genealogy, linguistics, archaeology, psychology, sociology, and genetics. Weitzman shows how this quest has been fraught since its inception with religious and political agendas, how anti-Semitism cast its long shadow over generations of learning, and how recent claims about Jewish origins have been difficult to disentangle from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He does not offer neatly packaged conclusions but invites readers on an intellectual adventure, shedding new light on the assumptions and biases of those seeking answers—and the challenges that have made finding answers so elusive. Spanning more than two centuries and drawing on the latest findings, The Origin of the Jews brings needed clarity and historical context to this enduring and often divisive topic.

Universal Jurisdiction in International Criminal Law

Universal Jurisdiction in International Criminal Law PDF

Author: Aisling O'Sullivan

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-02-03

Total Pages: 439

ISBN-13: 131730120X

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With the sensational arrest of former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet in 1998, the rise to prominence of universal jurisdiction over crimes against international law seemed to be assured. The arrest of Pinochet and the ensuing proceedings before the UK courts brought universal jurisdiction into the foreground of the "fight against impunity" and the principle was read as an important complementary mechanism for international justice –one that could offer justice to victims denied an avenue by the limited jurisdiction of international criminal tribunals. Yet by the time of the International Court of Justice’s Arrest Warrant judgment four years later, the picture looked much bleaker and the principle was being read as a potential tool for politically motivated trials. This book explores the debate over universal jurisdiction in international criminal law, aiming to unpack a practice in which international lawyers continue to disagree over the concept of universal jurisdiction. Using Martti Koskenniemi’s work as a foil, this book exposes the argumentative techniques in operation in national and international adjudication since the 1990s. Drawing on overarching patterns within the debate, Aisling O’Sullivan argues that it is bounded by a tension between contrasting political preferences or positions, labelled as moralist ("ending impunity") and formalist ("avoiding abuse") and she reads the debate as a movement of hegemonic and counter-hegemonic positions that struggle for hegemonic control. However, she draws out how these positions (moralist/formalist) merge into one another and this produces a tendency towards a "middle" position that continues to prefer a particular preference (moralist or formalist). Aisling O’Sullivan then traces the transformation towards this tendency that reflects an internal split among international lawyers between building a utopia ("court of humanity") and recognizing its impossibility of being realized.

Reimagining Communication: Meaning

Reimagining Communication: Meaning PDF

Author: Michael Filimowicz

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2020-06-02

Total Pages: 266

ISBN-13: 1351007904

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Reimagining Communication: Meaning surveys the foundational theoretical and methodological approaches that continue to shape communication studies, synthesizing the complex relationship of communication to meaning making in a uniquely accessible and engaging way. The Reimagining Communication series develops a new information architecture for the field of communications studies, grounded in its interdisciplinary origins and looking ahead to emerging trends as researchers take into account new media technologies and their impacts on society and culture. Reimagining Communication: Meaning brings together international authors to provide contemporary perspectives on semiotics, hermeneutics, paralanguage, corpus analysis, critical theory, intercultural communication, global culture, cultural hybridity, postcolonialism, feminism, political economy, propaganda, cultural capital, media literacy, media ecology and media psychology. The volume is designed as a reader for scholars and a textbook for students, offering a new approach for comprehending the vast diversity of communications topics in today’s globally networked world. This will be an essential introductory text for advanced undergraduate and graduate students and scholars of communication, broadcast media, and interactive technologies, with an interdisciplinary focus and an emphasis on the integration of new technologies.