El habla y no la lengua; la diacronía y no la sincronía: la inversión de dos ideas saussureanas

The Centenary of Saussure’s Course in general linguistics is also the anniversary of the famous dichotomies with which the author marked a new direction in modern linguistics. This paper analyzes the opposition between langue and parole and between synchrony and diachrony. It contains a review of the reasons that might accompany the Saussurean preferences and the losses caused by the preponderance of langue and synchrony. In the end, we reflect on the significance of the dichotomies in the study of American Spanish.