Le Programme ‘phonologique’ de Sechehaye dans sa (dis)continuité saussurienne et pragoise
Ivaylo Burov
Descriere autor:
Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”
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E-mail personal autor:
iburov@uni-sofia.bg
9
Rubrica:
Studii culturale
Sechehaye’s ‘phonological’ Programme in its (dis)continuity with Saussure and the Prague Circle
Abstract: Having made his name mainly as a syntactician and language theorist, Albert Sechehaye was only marginally involved in phonology, which is why historiographical studies on phoneme theory in the 20th century generally overlook his work. However, his Programme et méthodes de la linguistique théorique (1908) is probably the first work in which the terms phonology and phonological system were used in their modern sense, and Jakobson openly acknowledged its pioneering role in Prague theory. Although claiming continuity with Saussure, this work reveals fundamental differences between master and pupil, particularly with regard to the nature of the signifier. More specifically, it puts forward a psychologizing vision of the phoneme, conceived through the abstraction of the sound-idea, reminiscent of the late work of Baudouin in which the phoneme is defined as the psychological equivalent of the speech sound, but also of the Prague Theses and the early works of Troubetzkoy and Jakobson, who consider it to be a subjective acoustico-motor image.
Keywords: Sechehaye, Saussure, Prague Circle, phonology, phoneme, psychologism
Citation suggestion: Burov, Ivaylo. “Le Programme ‘phonologique’ de Sechehaye dans sa (dis)continuité saussurienne et pragoise”. Transilvania, no. 9 (2025): 26-36.
https://doi.org/10.51391/trva.2025.9.04.
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