00167-- “Nature of the Linguistic Sign” by Ferdinand de Saussure

Ferdinand de Saussure laid the foundation for many developments in linguistics in the 20^th century.  He argues that linguistics is a science of signs.  He called it Semiology.  His famous work is called “A Course in General Linguistics”.  It was published three years after his death.  He emphasized a synchronic study of language [How language behaves at a particular point of time].