The concept of the study of language in synchrony, which is opposed to diachronic studies of language, was introduced by Saussure in the early twentieth century. It aims to study a language at a given period of time as if the language was not evolving.
In fact, this approach proposes to clearly and systematically state all the rules that govern the subject language at a certain time. Then if this method has somehow an artificial character, given the constant changing process of language, it results significantly in considering the language as a complex system where everything is connected and thus allows a better understanding of the linguistic evolution. In other words, according to the encyclopaedia Universalis (2015) since the time of Saussure linguists distinguish between the diachronic and synchronic approaches. Hence, diachronic is the approach of analysis and investigation of a particular language in its entire history, while the synchronic approach on the other hand does only takes into account one sole aspect of the examined language. That is to say, if researchers study for instance the evolution of words order in a sentence from old French to modern French then they are adopting a diachronic perspective. Meanwhile, if they study the order of words in a sentence as it manifests itself only in modern French or in old French separately and without considering the linguistic evolution throughout the historical process then they are adopting a synchronic perspective.
Saussure exposed both the methodological and theoretical necessity of distinguishing the two above mentioned perspectives. Moreover, he justified the autonomy of the synchronic approach of language over the diachronic approach (ibid). Ramat and Mauri (2013) accordingly mention Saussure’s linguistic master piece Cours de Linguistiques Générales (CLG) in which they argue Saussure’s main aim was to emphasise both the autonomy of the synchronic perspective and the centrality of this perspective to the speaker. Such a claim, according to them, is clearly shown in Saussure’s definition in the fields of synchronic and diachronic linguistics:
La linguistique synchronique s’occupera des rapports logiques et psychologiques reliant des termes coexistants et formant système, tel qu’ils sont aperçus par la même conscience collective. La linguistique diachronique étudiera au contraire les rapports reliant des termes successifs non aperçus par une même conscience collective, et qui se substituent les uns aux autres sans former système entre eux. (CLG:140)
References:
- Catherine FUCHS, Diachronie et synchronielinguistique, Encyclopædia Universalis [en ligne], consulté le 7 juin 2015. URL: http://www.universalis.fr/encyclopedie/diachronie-et-synchronie-linguistique/
- Giacalone RAMAT, A. MAURI, & P. MOLINELLI, Synchrony and Diachrony a dynamic interference, John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2013, Amsterdam, pp 3-9.
Written by Yacine Chemssi
Terminology Study Visitor at TermCoord
Student at the University of Luxembourg