La place de la syntaxe dans l’œuvre de linguistique générale de Ferdinand de Saussure

Abstract

This article attempts to determine the implications for syntax of the Saussurean definition of langue as a functioning. The deconstruction of the traditional representation of syntax is coupled with a redefinition of syntax within the framework of syntagmatic/paradigmatic and concrete/abstract entities distinctions. Syntax is elaborated as an “external determinant”, and as such it occupies a central place in Saussurean theorization of langue. This is both a point of convergence and a point of radical divergence with Chomskyan theory, a divergence which this article aims to highlight in order to propose, a bit speculatively, another answer to the question of the origin of language.