New developments of Chinese interpretation of Ferdinand de Saussure’s linguistic thought

Abstract

The introduction of Saussure’s linguistic ideas in China began in the thirties thanks to scholars such as such as Wang Li, Gao Mingkai, Fang Guangtao and Chen Wangdao. They were the first to disseminate and apply to the analysis of their language the constructs included in the Cours de linguistique générale. Masini (1985) has thoroughly investigated this issue, pointing out how troubled the first phase of Saussurean studies in China was. Completed in the 1960s but published only in 1980, the first translation of the Cours made by Gao Mingkai marked a new beginning of Saussurean studies in China, as confirmed not only by the debate raised by the reading of this work but also by the translations of other sources which have made the portrait of the Swiss linguist more accurate (Péi 2003; Zhào 2005; Mǎ 2008; Romagnoli 2007; 2012). Three Chinese translations of the Cours, several monographs on Saussure, hundreds of academic papers are now available to Chinese readers, whose linguistics knowledge and linguistic background have also changed compared to the first decades of the last century. The aim of this paper is to illustrate the most recent development of the debate regarding Saussurean linguistics in China. In order to do so, two issues are taken into account: the critical stances expressed by Chinese scholars toward the interpretation of the ideas of the Swiss linguist in China and the latest development of the debate on Saussurean semiology.