Ferdinand de Saussure, le post-structuraliste

Understanding the linguistic work of earlier times demands that it be read in the context of when and why it was written. This effort is both aided and impeded by our habit of packaging the past into periods and doctrines that entail inevitable oversimplifications and distortions. This paper contends that structuralism is conceived in such a distorted way – including the view that we are supposedly “post” it. Inspired by a student who referred to Saussure in an exam as a post-structuralist, I take up the case for seeing him as exactly that, in terms of how we generally conceive of structuralism, with a view to improving our understanding of what structuralist linguistics was – indeed, perhaps still is.