Master’s Portrait: Eugeniu Coșeriu

Abstract

Coșeriu approached the field of linguistics from a perspective of universality, something that few linguists could achieve in their lifetime. The perspective is due to the freedom of thought of the renowned linguist of Bessarabian origin, Coșeriu’s knowledge of classical languages, his global vision of language and its location at the center of human disciplines. With a good school at home (he is a graduate of the famous high school for boys “Ion Creangă” from Bălți), these qualities of the distinguished man of letters were cemented and asserted in Italy, Uruguay or Germany, places abroad where he practiced and deepened important research, which has not lost its relevance; on the contrary, whose value increases with the years. Coșeriu being rather a linguist of the future than of the present. The Cosherian concept of integral linguistics treats the discipline as a science of culture, placing speech before language, the former being much broader and more complex. Namely, the famous polemic with Saussure allowed Coșeriu to establish and substantiate the triad language – speech – norm, which he exemplarily illustrated with the help of European languages, but also with subtle analyzes of the Romanian language. The return to his homeland led him to actively support the fight of his compatriots for the triumph of scientific truth regarding the correct name of the language spoken by Moldovans: the Romanian language for the entire Carpatho-Danubian-Dniester space. The Coșeriu centenary brought to the attention of philologists the duty of studying the work in depth, translating it into popular languages, and last but not least, editing Coșeriu’s complete work.