ABSTRACT
Ferdinand de Saussure's Cours de linguistique generale is a peculiar book, not merely published but in part composed after the author's death. Saussure constantly searches for generalities, high-level abstractions and fundamental definitions. His 'hesitation is to undertake the radical revision which he felt was necessary' in linguistics seems to have deterred him from writing a general book; in fact, 'he could not bring himself to publish the slightest note if he was not assured first of the fundamental foundations'. Saussure was highly discontent with the state of the discipline. He charged that 'no other field' was so beset by 'mistakes', 'aberrations', 'absurd notions, prejudices, mirages, and fictions'. Saussure envisioned 'linguistics' taking its place among 'other sciences that sometimes borrow from its data, sometimes supply it with data', such as 'political history', 'psychology', 'anthropology', 'sociology', 'ethnography', 'prehistory', and 'palaeontology'.
