I owe my interest in Saussure to Willie Haas, Professor of Linguistics at the University of Manchester from 1963 to 1979. Attendance at his lectures stimulated me to read the Course in General Linguistics, and I discussed it and structural linguistics in general with him on many enjoyable and profitable occasions. Even though I was not convinced by the structuralist methodology to which he was deeply wedded, I learnt a great deal from him; above all I remember his patience with, and forbearance of, views which attracted him not at all. Later, at the University of Warwick, I renewed that interest whilst giving a course on semiology and structuralism, which led me to appreciate Saussure's achievements not only as a linguist but also as someone whose ideas had had a major impact on the human sciences in general. The origin of the material in this book dates from lectures I gave at that time, and I owe a debt to students who attended those lectures at Warwick, Leeds, and Stony Brook for their contributions to what turned out to be an unexpectedly enjoyable course from my point of view.

I owe a debt too to colleagues at Leeds both for letting me off with a light teaching load in the autumn of 1987, which enabled me to start writing this book, and for a number of helpful discussions in seminars since then.