GROUP 2: LANGUE AND PAROLE

Adiong, Norlaine Section 18

Alabado, Kenneth
Castillo, Alyssa
Polo, Nicole
Soriano, Micah
Tiri, Kylie

I. DEFINITION OF TERMS
Langue and Parole are linguistic terms discussed in the Course of General
Linguistics by Ferdinand de Saussure. According to him, these are terms that we use in
different ways of how we communicate. He also referred to these two as types of
“building blocks” within language and communication. Therefore, Langue embraces
Parole.

Langue:
 Also referred to as “language”.
 A system that exists inside the brains of speakers which therefore produces
and makes speech possible.
 Has a large number of elements that creates meaning through the
consequent relationships of these elements.
 The ability, potential, and capacity of communication that is innate in us
humans.
 Everything that we use, which is part of language (images, words, meanings,
sub-meanings, sound-to-symbol connection, etc.) is composite of langue.

Parole:
 The concrete usage and the enabler of language or langue.
 An external expression or manifestation of langue, which contributes to the
overall development of the system of language.
 The actual activity or action that we take part in when we speak or
communicate.
 “Palabara” in Spanish which means “the act of activating langue through the
use of speech”.

II. IMPORTANT POINTS

Difference between Language and Parole

Langue represents the “work of a collective intelligence,” which is both internal to

each individual and collective, in so far as it is beyond the will of any individual to
change. Parole, on the other hand, designates individual acts, statements and
utterances, events of language use manifesting each time a speaker’s ephemeral
individual will through his combination of concepts and his “phonation”—the formal
aspects of the utterance. Saussure points out that the single word “linguistics” therefore
covers two very different kinds of study. The study of parole would be entirely focused
on individual utterances, using all the available resources of formal and empirical study
to analyze actual statements, usually within a specific language. The study of langue
would be focused instead on generally applicable conditions of possibility.

In conclusion, language exists inside the brain of the speakers while parole is
produced by the system of language. In simplest terms, these can be inferred as the
input and output of our brains. Language is the input or it is the ideas and thoughts that
our brains formulate. Moreover, parole is the output of what is being thought. It is what
we have decided to communicate to other people.

The Function of Langue and Parole and their Relationship

The underlying basis to langue is the interpretation that it is made up of signs and
not sentences. Signs are thought to have a two-part aspect in that each sign relates a
notion with a sound pattern (or a written symbol). A sign cannot exist as a single part for
if there is a sound pattern without a notion the sound becomes only noise. Similarly, a
notion cannot be communicated without a sound pattern. The sound pattern for each
notion can be extremely diverse and vice versa. For example, the notion of oneself may
use the sound patterns of 'I' or 'me' while the sound pattern of 'rose' may have the
notion of a flower or the past of 'rise'.

The notion or sound pattern remains unchanged even if the other changes. It is
by understanding the relationship of the two parts of a sign through langue that the gist
of communication or parole may be understood. Without the understanding
of langue, parole would be meaningless sounds or symbols grouped together
haphazardly. Saussure used the example of chess to explain
how langue and parole work together. Langue is the normative rules in a chess game
while parole represents the individual's choice of moves. If one were to study the parole
of a chess game an understanding could be derived but it would not be a universal
understanding of chess. However, by studying the langue of chess game the derived
understanding may be applicable to further chess games. Thus, Saussure argued when
studying language, especially a foreign language, it is more important to understand
the langue than to gain a large vocabulary of parole so that sense may be made equal
to that of native speaker.

III. CURRENT ISSUES IN THE PHILIPPINES

According to Nordquist (2019), langue and parole are interdependent because

they are both the instrument and the product of each other. Therefore, the best scenario
is what we call “conyo” wherein some people conform to the accepted behavior due to
their fear of being discriminated in terms of their native language. For an instance,
college students who came from their provinces tend to have their own mother tongue,
which manages to settle in their brain, and becomes the product of learning. Then, as
they hear different paroles upon stepping to different places, the person will get enough
data, thus, will lead her to reconstruct and developed the langue that she learned which
will produced the parole.

The Philippines is a multilingual country, which means that grammar or speech varies
between different cities and provinces. There are words that are the same but have
different meanings depending on where it was used. With this, people are often
misunderstood and wrongly judged because of their choice of words. This is where
linguistic discrimination happens that is present in the educational system and in social
media in particular. It hinders someone to express his or her own opinion, feelings, and
believes in a certain topic.
References:

Anonymous. (n.d.). “Langue and Parole”. Retrieved from,

http://changingminds.org/explanations/critical_theory/concepts/langue_parole.ht
m

Nordquist, R. (2019, October 12). “What Is Langue in Linguistics?”. Retrieved

from, https://www.thoughtco.com/langue-linguistics-term-1691219

Ossa, M.P. (n.d.). “ Langue and Parole”. Retrieved from,

https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/whats-difference-between-langue-
parole-according-373397

Philips, J. (n.d.). “Langue and Parole”. Retrieved from.

https://courses.nus.edu.sg/course/elljwp/langue&parole.pdf