이 논문은 소쉬르의 초기 주저인 『인도유럽어 원시 모음체계 논고』와 사후 출간된 『일반언어학 강의』의 연구 방법을 비교, 분석함으로써 소쉬르 언어학 연구 방법과 인식론, 일반언어학 사상의 탄생, 특히 그의 구조주의적 사고의 연원을 밝히고, 이러한 연구의 발전 과정에서 나타난 그의 연구의 주요 특징들을 해부하고, 소쉬르 언어학의 발전에 대한 전망을 하고자 한다. 그의 연구의 출발점은 역사 비교언어학, 특히 인도유럽어 역사 비교언어학이다. 당시의 소장 문법학파 및 일반 학문의 동향을 한편으로 수용하면서, 또 다른 한편 이를 비판하면서 자신의 독창적 인식과 사고를 발전시켜 방대한 고전어의 언어자료를 이용하여 당대의 핵심적 논쟁거리 가운데 하나였던 인도유럽어의 *a의 문제에 빛을 던졌고, 구조주의적 사고의 단초를 제공했다. 그의 연구는 흔히 생각하듯이 이성론과 경험론의 대립이 아니라 이 두 가지의 변증법적 화해를 통해 여기에 이를 수 있었다. 그의 이러한 역사 비교언어학과 인도유럽 언어학 연구는 주네브 대학의 일반언어학 강의에서도 여전히 핵심적 주제가 되고 있다. 일반언어학 사상은 그의 『일반언어학 강의』에서 갑자기 형성된 것이 아니며, 역사비교 언어학과도 분리된 것이 아니다. 그것은 공시와 통시의 이원론을 진정으로 초극하는 언어학 일반론이며, 학적 인식론과 철학에서 나온 것이다.

In this paper we discuss some epistemological and methodolo- gical problems of Saussurean Linguistics comparing his important two writings, his early work Mémoire sur le système primitif des voyelles dans les langues indo-européennes and his posthumous work Cours de Linguistique Générale(and his own writing Ecrits de Linguistique Générale). And we also attempt to analyse the origin and the continuity of his general linguistic and structura- listic thought as is studied in these two works, and to give some general suggestions. Saussure starts his linguistic study from the Indo-european Linguistics with the neogrammarian paradigm but his approaches are very innovative in the sense that he introduces the idea of system in explaining the exact nature of Indo-european *a and reinterprets from his own epistemology some very important linguistic notions, for example the morphological structure of a word unit, comparison, reconstruction and analogy etc. He always makes use of a vast number of linguistic data, but he posits some hypotheses and theoretical point of views simultaneously in advance. People generally see the early work is in nature very different from the CLG and Ecrits which discuss the most important cores of his general linguistic theory. In fact, there are also many historical subjects in CLG, but this part of his posthume work is not mentioned and ignored by many linguists, and its linguistic epistemology(dualities), synchronic linguistics and semi- ology are usually referred and studied. Even in CLG, as the title of the second Course demonstrates, the general linguistic thinking results from his studies in Indo-european Linguistics. Therefore we are proposing that the general linguistic thoughts discussed in CLG originate in his early work Mémoire and develop continuously without achieving its final form in his scientific study of language.

In this paper we discuss some epistemological and methodolo- gical problems of Saussurean Linguistics comparing his important two writings, his early work Mémoire sur le système primitif des voyelles dans les langues indo-européennes and his posthumous work Cours de Linguistique Générale(and his own writing Ecrits de Linguistique Générale). And we also attempt to analyse the origin and the continuity of his general linguistic and structura- listic thought as is studied in these two works, and to give some general suggestions. Saussure starts his linguistic study from the Indo-european Linguistics with the neogrammarian paradigm but his approaches are very innovative in the sense that he introduces the idea of system in explaining the exact nature of Indo-european *a and reinterprets from his own epistemology some very important linguistic notions, for example the morphological structure of a word unit, comparison, reconstruction and analogy etc. He always makes use of a vast number of linguistic data, but he posits some hypotheses and theoretical point of views simultaneously in advance. People generally see the early work is in nature very different from the CLG and Ecrits which discuss the most important cores of his general linguistic theory. In fact, there are also many historical subjects in CLG, but this part of his posthume work is not mentioned and ignored by many linguists, and its linguistic epistemology(dualities), synchronic linguistics and semi- ology are usually referred and studied. Even in CLG, as the title of the second Course demonstrates, the general linguistic thinking results from his studies in Indo-european Linguistics. Therefore we are proposing that the general linguistic thoughts discussed in CLG originate in his early work Mémoire and develop continuously without achieving its final form in his scientific study of language.

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Saussure, comparative grammar, Indo-european Linguistics, general linguistics, structuralism, epistemology, methodology, paradigm, rationalism, empricism, dualism, philological, linguistic philosophy, history of linguistics