Return to Saussure

Introduction During the 1960s and 1970s, generative linguistics introduced the influential distinction between surface structure and deep structure , a framework intended to explain how sentences are generated from underlying syntactic representations. Sentences that appear different on the surface—such as active and passive constructions—were understood as sharing a common deep structure representing their core semantic relations. Ferdinand de Saussure approached language from a markedly different perspective. In the Course in General Linguistics , he emphasizes the systemic organization of language, arguing that linguistic elements acquire value only through their relations within the whole system. Roy Harris (2003) later questioned the generativist critique of Saussure, suggesting that abandoning observable linguistic criteria in favor of hypothetical underlying structures creates serious methodological difficulties. From this perspective, Saussure’s systemic conception of la...

Introduction The advent of language models has profoundly transformed our understanding of language. These systems generate coherent texts, respond to context, reformulate meanings, and simulate creativity—all without consciousness or biology. This technological shift raises a pressing question: if language does not require an organic substrate to function, what remains of the faculty of language as an innate attribute of the human species? This question acquires a philosophical dimension when considered alongside the insights of Jacques Derrida and Roland Barthes, who anticipated a conception of language as a network of signs and writing independent of a subject. In this sense, algorithmic models produce meaning without intentionality, enacting operations that function beyond the bounds of human awareness. This essay argues that algorithmic systems exemplify the transition from language conceived as the expression of a mind to writing as a differential network, thereby enactin...

Writing Without Origin. AI generated   Introduction: Fault Lines in a Storied Paradigm Noam Chomsky revolutionized modern linguistics by proposing that human language is rooted in a biologically endowed faculty of mind. In his view, language is primarily an internal system for organizing thought, not a tool for communication. The hypothesis of a Language Acquisition Device (LAD), governed by an innate Universal Grammar (UG), positioned human cognition at the center of linguistic creativity and syntactic complexity. Language, Chomsky famously argued, is “a mirror of mind” (Chomsky, 2000, p. 4). Today, however, Large Language Models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini challenge this vision. These systems, devoid of any biological substrate or mental architecture, generate coherent and seemingly intelligent discourse through purely statistical operations. Their success forces us to reassess the foundations of linguistic theory. More provocatively, Chomsky himself has ...