LINGUIST

Ferdinand de Saussure

1857 - 1913

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Ferdinand Mongin de Saussure (; French: [fɛʁdinɑ̃ də sosyʁ]; 26 November 1857 – 22 February 1913) was a Swiss linguist, semiotician and philosopher. His ideas laid a foundation for many significant developments in both linguistics and semiotics in the 20th century. He is widely considered one of the founders of 20th-century linguistics and one of two major founders (together with Charles Sanders Peirce) of semiotics, or semiology, as Saussure called it. One of his translators, Roy Harris, summarized Saussure's contribution to linguistics and the study of "the whole range of human sciences. Read more on Wikipedia

His biography is available in different languages on Wikipedia. Ferdinand de Saussure is the most popular linguist, the 8th most popular biography from Switzerland and the most popular Swiss Linguist.

Ferdinand de Saussure was best known as the founder of modern linguistics and a key figure in structuralism. His work, particularly Course in General Linguistics, introduced concepts like the signifier and signified, and the distinction between langue (language system) and parole (speech), which influenced fields beyond linguistics, including semiotics and literary theory.

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Among LINGUISTS

Among linguists, Ferdinand de Saussure ranks 1 out of 214. After him are Edgar de Wahl, Pāṇini, Patanjali, Noam Chomsky, Max Müller, William James Sidis, Noah Webster, Mahmud al-Kashgari, Roman Jakobson, Mesrop Mashtots, and Rasmus Rask.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1857, Ferdinand de Saussure ranks 3. Before him are Pope Pius XI, and Heinrich Hertz. After him are Clara Zetkin, Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, Karl Adolph Gjellerup, Edward Elgar, Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom, Joseph Conrad, Henrik Pontoppidan, Ruggero Leoncavallo, and Alfonso XII of Spain. Among people deceased in 1913, Ferdinand de Saussure ranks 1. After him are Rudolf Diesel, Menelik II, Alfred Russel Wallace, George I of Greece, J. P. Morgan, Harriet Tubman, Tobias Asser, Tokugawa Yoshinobu, Lesya Ukrainka, Blanche Monnier, and Alfred von Schlieffen.

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In Switzerland

Among people born in Switzerland, Ferdinand de Saussure ranks 8 out of 1,015. Before him are Leonhard Euler (1707), Le Corbusier (1887), Carl Jung (1875), Paracelsus (1493), Henry Dunant (1828), and Jean Piaget (1896). After him are Jacob Bernoulli (1654), Huldrych Zwingli (1484), Sepp Blatter (1936), Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi (1746), Paul Klee (1879), and Charles Édouard Guillaume (1861).

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Among LINGUISTS In Switzerland

Among linguists born in Switzerland, Ferdinand de Saussure ranks 1. After him are Charles Bally (1865), Wilhelm Meyer-Lübke (1861), Jules Gilliéron (1854), Albert Sechehaye (1870), Walther von Wartburg (1888), Heinrich Schmid (1921), and Rudolf Thurneysen (1857).

Swiss born Linguists

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