Editing Course in General Linguistics (section)

==Synchronic and diachronic axes==

To consider a language [[synchronic analysis|synchronically]] is to study it "as a complete system at a given point in time," a perspective he calls the ''AB'' axis. By contrast, a [[historical linguistics|diachronic]] analysis considers the language "in its historical development" (the ''CD'' axis). Saussure argues that we should be concerned not only with the ''CD'' axis, which was the focus of attention in his day, but also with the ''AB'' axis because, he says, language is "a system of pure values which are determined by nothing except the momentary arrangements of its terms".

To illustrate this, Saussure uses a [[chess]] metaphor. We could study the game diachronically (how the rules change through time) or synchronically (the actual rules). Saussure notes that a person joining the audience of a game already in progress requires no more information than the present layout of pieces on the board and who the next player is. There would be no additional benefit in knowing how the pieces had come to be arranged in this way.