Lieux d’émergence de la réflexivité linguistique chez Ferdinand de Saussure

Grazia Basile

Abstract

The aim of this essay is to draw up a survey of the ways in which Ferdinand de Saussure deals with the notion (more or less conscious) of linguistic reflexiveness on the part of the speaking subject. It is a theme that does not have a specific collocation: however, the places where it occurs throughout Saussurian work (regarding the notion of identity and linguistic reality associated with the dichotomy concrete/abstract, the notion of analogy, that of associative relationship, folk etymology, subjective vs objective analysis, etc.) not only reveal Saussure’s attention to what we now call reflexiveness, but are of central theoretical importance. This is indeed a theme that – in our opinion – serves to better clarify the nature and the contribution of the Saussurian theorisation regarding the complexity of the linguistic system.

Keywords

Reflexiveness, Metalinguistics, Speaking subject, Linguistic feeling, Consciousness

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