Ferdinand de Saussure was a Swiss linguist whose ideas fundamentally shaped the field of linguistics and influenced a wide range of disciplines including semiotics, philosophy, and literary theory. His most significant contributions can be summarized in several key concepts:
1. **Sign, Signifier, and Signified**: Saussure introduced the idea that a "sign" is made up of two parts: the "signifier" (the physical form of the sign, such as a word or


