Louis de Saussure's blog

What about?

Very much of the evolution of society today, whatever the causes, is oriented toward a decline of civilization in Western societies - at the same time, many societies elsewhere arise with a better ability to share their values in globalization. This blog is dedicated to host a few short thoughts on various societal issues that we should worry about. Some messages will be posted in French when they concern more specifically Switzerland or France. But since I think that many ideas that affect the evolution of our societies originate in the globalized (which means to a large extent 'American') world, English will be my usual language of communication.

Who am I?

I am Swiss and I live in Switzerland, but I also have the French (thus European) citizenship and own a house in the French countryside. I lived in Texas for a year or so when I was teaching at the Department of Philosophy in Austin. I also lived, with my family, in London for another year while pursuing research in linguistics at the University College London. I am full professor of linguistics and discourse analysis, and vice-head of the centre for cognitive science, head of the MA program of language and communication, at the University of Neuchâtel. I have written scientific papers and books on various topics in these domains (see: http://www.unine.ch/linguistique). If you have studied anthropology, sociology or of course linguistics, you may have heard my surname already, but it's not my fault :-)

On the tone of the blog messages

As I am interested in language and communication, belief change and influence, I will oftentimes focus on these as starting points in my reflection.

Some papers, in the media or in scientific journal, will eventually be mentioned.