“Time changes all things; there is no reason why language should escape this universal law.”

— Ferdinand de Saussure, book Course in General Linguistics

Source: Cours de linguistique générale (1916), p. 77
Context: The causes of continuity are a priori within the scope of the observer, but the causes of change in time are not. It is better not to attempt giving an exact account at this point, but to restrict discussion to the shifting of relationships in general. Time changes all things; there is no reason why language should escape this universal law.

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Ferdinand de Saussure17

Swiss linguist 1857–1913

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