“Psychologically our thought-apart from its expression in words-is only a shapeless and indistinct mass.”

— Ferdinand de Saussure , book Course in General Linguistics

Source: Cours de linguistique générale (1916), p. 111-112
Source: Course in General Linguistics
Context: Psychologically our thought-apart from its expression in words-is only a shapeless and indistinct mass. Philosophers and linguists have always agreed in recognizing that without the help of signs we would be unable to make a clear-cut, consistent distinction between two ideas. Without language, thought is a vague, uncharted nebula. here are no pre-existing ideas, and nothing is distinct before the appearance of language.

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Ferdinand de Saussure 17

Swiss linguist 1857–1913

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“Psychologically our thought-apart from its expression in words-is only a shapeless and indistinct mass.”

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Ferdinand de Saussure 17

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