Re: [tied] Mother of all IE languages

From: Miguel Carrasquer
Message: 27916
Date: 2003-12-03

On Wed, 03 Dec 2003 12:16:28 +0000, "S.Kalyanaraman" <kalyan97@...>

>In French linguistics, langue is distinguished from parole. Roughly,
>the terms may be defined: langue 'language'; parole 'speaking'.

That's not correct. The Saussurean "parole" can also be 'writing'. The
distinction between langue and parole is not between written and spoken
language, but that between language-in-the-abstract and concrete linguistic
performances. "Parole" is an individual speaking, or writing. "Langue" is
the abstraction, the system, the structure, that can be deduced from the
"paroles" of all the individual speakers (provided they speak the same
"langue": some circularity cannot be avoided).

"Langue" is the main object of linguistics. This doesn't mean that the
"parole" is entirely irrelevant: we can only reach the "langue" object
trough its "parole" instances, and the "parole" is the active principle
that drives historical change.

Miguel Carrasquer Vidal