Now the identification of individual sounds by phonetic observation is an artificial way of proceeding.

Acoustic phonetics, which is developing and increasing in richness very rapidly, already enables us to solve many of the mysteries of sound, mysteries which motor phonetics could not even begin to solve.

Every linguistic sign is located on two axes: the axis of simultaneity and that of succession.

The function of poetry is to point out that the sign is not identical to the referent.

Languages differ essentially in what they must convey and not in what they may convey.

Linguistic sounds, considered as external, physical phenomena have two aspects, the motor and the acoustic.

It is once again the vexing problem of identity within variety; without a solution to this disturbing problem there can be no system, no classification.