Ferdinand de Saussure

From Geography

Ferdinand de Saussure was a Swiss linguist. He was born in 1857 in Geneva, and died in 1913. He has made very imporant contributions to the linguistic studies, therefore he is called ´father of the modern linguistics´ (Hall, 1997, p. 30). He rejected the view of traditional linguistics because het disagreed with their opinion that 'words are symbols standing for objects in the world'. De Saussure introduced a new way of looking at representation and signs. He said that words are a kind of sign, created by the relation between the signifier (visual image, a fysical sign) and the signified (concept behind the image). His formulation and view was quite pioneering, because his ideas were that the meaning of something is created in a complex social structure of relation and difference.

Due to his work, semiotics in the 19th centery emerged as a method of examining phenomena in different fields.

References:

• Hall, S. (1997). Representation: cultural representations and signifying practices. London: Sage Publications.
• Gibson-Graham, J.K. (2000). Poststructuralist interventions. In, E. Sheppard & T. Barnes (eds.) A companion to Economic Geography. Blackwell, Oxford, pp. 95-110.

Created by Boudewijn Idema, 10 september 2011

Edited by Jobke Heij, 10 september 2011