A review by david_rhee
Course in General Linguistics by Ferdinand de Saussure

4.0

I read this years ago because writers referred to this work or to this author so often. It proved too much a challenge for me and my appreciation of de Saussure did not match that of others. Years later, I began an unplanned reread of this course for the same reasons that spurred me the first time. Other authors kept referring to this author, this work, and his school of thought. 
Being monolingual, I know the odds are against me when approaching this work. Littered with word comparisons across many languages, grammatical terminology I have long forgotten or never knew in the first place...this dense work can leave one behind rather swiftly. However, stay engaged and lock onto the more basic concepts and an appreciation for the challenges of the study of languages will blossom. The arbitrary nature of signifiers and the marvelous fact that language is a "product of the collective mind of linguistic groups" drives its evolution which is uniquely unlike that of an organism and is even less able to be deliberately driven willfully by groups in a direction of their choosing. De Saussure's detailed outlining of concepts governing linguistic study shows why the disciplined linguist must resist the temptation of convenient solutions, shortcuts and assumptions. Although pitfalls and limitations may appear overemphasized, the correct path is being laboriously set stone by stone.