Um percurso em torno da noção de diacronia e sincronia: o CLG e a leitura de Câmara JR

Abstract

The General Linguistics Course publication brings with it important movements to linguistic studies’ scene, given the relevance of certain changes. The purpose of this study is to analyze the reading did by Câmara Jr. about Saussure’s concepts of diachrony and synchrony and, for that, we proceed to a brief return to the previous linguistic studies in 1916 in order to infer how the historical approach was developed. From this way, we demonstrated the innovations brought by Ferdinand de Saussure to create, consolidate and formalize the concepts of diachrony and synchrony. In summary, in Chapter 1, we try to score the relevant questions about the point of view adopted, as the object of study and on the approach used for the issues that aroused interest and motivated investigations since ancient times. In Chapter 2, we analyze how Saussure's theory provides new directions to the speaker as a point of view to be adopted to the observations of the linguistic facts; when determining the language as the object of study at the expense of the common elements to the set of languages; and when determining the synchrony as the other possible approach to the facts of the tongue side of the diachronic. After pointing out to what extent Saussure innovates, it legitimizes and formalizes new ways for language studies. In Chapter 3, we dedicate to the reading provided by Câmara Jr. about the concepts of diachrony and synchrony in order to follow how this Brazilian interpreted Saussure’s news. The cut made among Brazilian linguists is justified at the moment in which Câmara Jr. is a representative linguist for both the beginning and for the development and affirmation of Brazilian’s linguistic. We observed in this path that there is a common trait in Brazilian’s publications: the concepts of diachrony and synchrony which are interpreted as dichotomous concepts, which is the reason why this return proves to be essential, because it offers means to understand how one of the forerunners researchers of our linguistic science received the text in 1916.