Langue and Parole Since Saussure

SUMMARYIt is not possible and in fact not necessary to review everything that has been written since the publication of Saussure's Cours de linguistique generale concerning the languejparole diachotomy. What is attempted in the present article is first of all a concrete analogy for langue and parole, so that these two notions, which have been so often misunderstood, can be presented in as concrete a manner as possible, and secondly to follow certain interesting developments of the basic Saussurian notions. The concrete analogy which is used is that of the child's construction set, such as a Meccano set for example. The set itself is an analogy for langue, and the models, such as planes, cars, machines, etc., that the child makes are a model for parole or discourse. This concrete analogy also serves to illuminate 'the infinite use of finite means', the finite means being langue, and the infinite use parole. Next an examination ismade of certain of the Saussurean notions that have provoked discussion over the years:(1) langue as a pure form; (2) psychologism; (3) the sociological notions; (4) synchrony as static linguistics. Subsequent to (4) the notions of process and generation are examined, and this leads first of all to a critical examination of the terms competence and performance, along with their underlying notions, and then to a discussion of the psychomechanics of Gustave Guillaume. It is pointed out that Guillaume's theory is an interesting development' of the Saussurian notions and that some of the criticisms by Wunderli in HL 1:1/1974 are based upon a fundamental misapprehension of the notion of parole in Guillaume.RESUMEII est impossible et peu necessaire de passer en revue tout ce qu'on a ecrit depuis le CLG de Saussure sur les notions de langue et parole. Tout ce qu'on essaie ici, c'est de presenter ces deux notions, si mal comprises pour la plupart, d'une maniere aussi concrete que possible, et de suivre quelques developpements interessants des notions de base qu'on trouve chez Saussure. L'analogie concrete dont on se sert est celle d'un jouet d'enfant: un jeu de Meccano, un necessaire de construction (=langue) dont les petits garçons se servent pour construire des modeles d'avions, d'autos, de machines, etc. (Ces modèles=parole, discours). C'est de cette facon qu'on arrive a repre-senter concretement "l'utilisation infinie (parole, discours) des moyens finis (langue)". Ensuite, on examine quelques aspects des notions saussurien-nes qui ont fait couler de l'encre: (1) la langue comme forme pure; (2) le psychologisme; (3) les relations sociologiques; (4) la synchronic comme statisme. A partir de (4) on examine les notions de processus et degeneration, ce qui mene d'abord a un examen critique des termes competence/ performance et de leurs notions soujacentes, et ensuite a une discussion de la psychomecanique de Gustave Guillaume. On signale que la theorie de Guil-laume est un developpement interessant des notions saussuriennes, et que quelques critiques de Wunderli dans HL 1:1/1974 sont basees sur une meprise fondamentale de la notion de parole chez Guillaume.