Article

Name: The relations between synchrony and diachrony by Ferdinand de Saussure

Authors: K. G. Krasukhin

Abstract: Ferdinand de Saussure was a prominent researcher of Indo-European phonetic and grammar. The primacy of synchronic linguistics, however, is proclaimed in his “Course de linguistique generale”. But Saussure had fast no publication, what would be devoted to the problems of synchronic state of language(s). Author tries to explain such contradiction between de Saussure’s scientific interests and declarations of his “Course”. He considers main results of de Saussure: 1. Establishment of structure of PIE roots (with constrains on some sound consequences), role of vowel gradation, finding of non-standard alternation (ā/i in Old Indic), hypothesis about the “sonant coefficients” (further identified as laryngeals). I.e., Saussure has elaborated the procedure of internal reconstruction: The features contradicting to common system of a language can contain a peculiar system, reflecting a lost, extinct state of this language. It is shown in article on the sample of Slavic ѧ (so-called “little jus”). The alternation of ѧ/ьн, and the analysis of Slavic present’s and infinitives morphonology allows to argue, that this grapheme designed both *en, *em and n̥, m̥. I.e., internal reconstruction considers both synchronic and reconstructed stages of a language. 2. Also the attention in article is paid to the Fortunatov-de Saussure law in Baltic. Both great linguists found such rule: the Lithuanian stress is shifting on the right from a syllable with circumflex to the syllable with acute intonation. Therefore 4 accentuation noun paradigms in Lithuanian can be reduced to two ones: paradigms with immobile and mobile accent. If the noun’s root has circumflex intonation, some case flexion cause the secondary accent shift on the right. Primary immobile Baltic nouns correspond with the Greek and Old Indic baritone nouns, and mobile nouns – with oxytone ones. 3. De Saussure’s law in Greek: no one word can have 4 short syllables. If such chain occurs by morphologic causes, one syllable is either syncopated, or becomes long. This law is developed by influence of hexameter. One can suggest that “Course”’s editors, Saussure’s students Charles Bally and Alfred Secheye have expressed their own ideas about the primate of synchronic research in linguistics. The analysis of texts from Saussure’s archive shows, that he didn’t prefer synchrony. He divided synchronic and diachronic linguistics, argued the importance of first one and provided their synthesis in a panchronic approach to the langue.

Keywords: Saussure, synchronic and diachronic linguistics, law of accentuation, law od rhytm

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