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Langue and Parole

Langue refers to the entire system of language including grammar, spelling, and syntax that precedes speech. It is a system that creates meaning through the arrangement of elements and their relationships. Parole refers to the actual instances of language usage and utterances. Saussure differentiated between the language system (langue) and its usage (parole) to enable their separate study. While Saussure was more interested in langue, Bakhtin criticized this separation and argued that language must be understood in terms of how it orients speakers and listeners within a social context.

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607 views

Langue and Parole

Langue refers to the entire system of language including grammar, spelling, and syntax that precedes speech. It is a system that creates meaning through the arrangement of elements and their relationships. Parole refers to the actual instances of language usage and utterances. Saussure differentiated between the language system (langue) and its usage (parole) to enable their separate study. While Saussure was more interested in langue, Bakhtin criticized this separation and argued that language must be understood in terms of how it orients speakers and listeners within a social context.

Uploaded by

Sumaira Malik
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Langue and Parole

Description
Langue and parole are more than just 'language and speech' (although this is a
useful quick way of remembering them).
Langue
La langue is the whole system of language that precedes and makes speech
possible. A sign is a basic unit of langue.
Learning a language, we master the system of grammar, spelling, syntax and
punctuation. These are all elements of langue.
Langue is a system in that it has a large number of elements whereby meaning is
created in the arrangements of its elements and the consequent relationships
between these arranged elements.
Parole
Parole is the concrete use of the language, the actual utterances. It is an external
manifestation of langue. It is the usage of the system, but not the system.
Discussion
By defining Langue and Parole, Saussure differentiates between the language and
how it is used, and therefore enabling these two very different things to be studied
as separate entities.
As a structuralist, Saussure was interested more in la langue than parole. It was the
system by which meaning could be created that was of interest rather than
individual instances of its use.
Marxist Mikhail Bakhtin (1929) criticized the splitting of langue and parole as
separating individuals and society where it matters most, at the point of production.
He developed a 'dialogic' theory of utterances where language is understood in
terms of how it orients the speaker/writer to the listener/reader. Words are subject
to negotiation, contest and struggle. Language is strongly affected by social
context.
Modification of langue at the point of parole is used to create new meaning, either
where the speaker has limited grasp of language or where deliberate distortion is
used.

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