Ferdinand de Saussure

Ferdinand de Saussure was a Swiss linguist whose ideas laid the foundation for modern linguistics and the philosophy of language. He distinguished between "langue" (the abstract system of language) and "parole" (individual speech acts). Saussure emphasized that language is a system of signs where the meaning arises from the relationships between signs, rather than from an intrinsic connection to the world. His concepts influenced theories of communication and highlighted how language shapes thought and culture, underlying the idea of linguistic relativity, which suggests that the language we speak influences how we perceive and understand reality.