On object and method: from the CGL to the Phonétique manuscript

Abstract

This article intends to reflect on object and method in linguistic studies considering the Saussurean point of view. The starting point will be phonic aspect of language, given the importance this reflection has in the initial outlines by the then young linguist Ferdinand de Saussure. We will use two works to do this: Course in General Linguistics, a work regarded as a framework for linguistics, and the Phonétique manuscript, written by the Genevan between 1883-1884 and made public in its entirety for the first time in 1995, by Maria Pia Marchese. Thus, we will address fundamental questions of Saussure's theoretical construction, which go through the problem of linguistic unity – its delimitations and method by which they must be defined. This will lead us to highlight the complexity with which Saussure detailed the differences between what would be the phonetic and phonological point of view to his contemporaries and his own conception of a "Phonétique", starting from the concreteness of discourse and anchored in the abstraction of the linguistic system.

---

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.22409/gragoata.2017n44a999