... emphasis on langue has allowed for the creation of whole new disciplines. Examples are phonetics and phonology which study the physical act of sound production and the distinction between sounds respectively. In addition Saussure's work has been built upon by countless other linguists, such as Chomsky. Saussure also discusses other dichotomies. The primacy of speech over writing was dealt with by Saussure. He stated that the speech, as the principle form of communication of society, was prime. It has since become the consensus that speech has the logical primacy, even though writing is treated with some prestige, because all societies have language, sign or written, but not all have writing. Saussure also helped formalise the study of language by seperating definitively the temporal study of language into the synchronic and the diachronic. The synchronic study of a particular language is the study of that language in a particular state ...

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