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Language is a system of signs that express ideas, and is therefore comparable to a system of writing, the alphabet of deaf-mutes, symbolic rites, polite formulas, military signals, etc. But it is the most important of all these systems.

— Ferdinand de Saussure Cours de linguistique générale (1916)

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Communication

More quotes by Ferdinand de Saussure

Time changes all things; there is no reason why language should escape this universal law.

Cours de linguistique générale (1916)

Psychologically our thought-apart from its expression in words-is only a shapeless and indistinct mass.

Cours de linguistique générale (1916)

Without language, thought is a vague, uncharted nebula.

Cours de linguistique générale (1916)

Language is a system in which all the parts can and should be considered from the viewpoint of their synchronic interrelatedness.

Cours de linguistique générale (1916)

Speech has both an individual and a social side, and we cannot conceive of one without the other.

Cours de linguistique générale (1916)

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Just at the age 'twixt boy and youth,
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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Ferdinand de Saussure (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.