Harris’s Saussure – Harris as Saussure: the translations of the Cours and the third course

Abstract

This article compares Roy Harris’s translations of Saussure’s Cours de linguistique générale and of the notes by Constantin of Saussure’s third course in general linguistics, and considers how each aligns with traditional theories of translation and with Harris’s own integrationist theory of language. Focussing on the passage concerning immutability and mutability of the sign, the article also contrasts the edited Cours with its source materials, and Baskin’s earlier translation with Harris’s. It is argued that the voice behind the translation of Constantin’s notes is that of ‘Harris’s Saussure’, a figure not identical with the historical Saussure but shaped by Harris’s own interpretation; while that behind the translation of the Cours is ‘Harris as Saussure’, (re)performing the act of communication between Saussure and his students that is the primary linguistic reality.