Charles Bally

Charles Bally (1865–1947) was a Swiss linguist who developed stylistics and studied general linguistics, French usage, and the expression of emotion in language.

Ferdinand de Saussure: A Swiss linguist whose structural account of language distinguished shared systems from individual acts of speech. Bally studied with Saussure and helped preserve and publish his influential lectures.
Traité de stylistique française: Charles Bally’s 1909 treatise establishing a systematic study of expressive resources in French. This work sets out the method most closely associated with Bally’s stylistics.
Albert Sechehaye: A Swiss linguist who collaborated with Bally in editing Saussure’s posthumously published lectures. Sechehaye and Bally jointly prepared the text that made Saussure’s general linguistics widely known.
Cours de linguistique générale: The 1916 posthumous book assembled from Ferdinand de Saussure’s lectures on general linguistics. Bally’s editorial work with Sechehaye helped shape this foundational text.
Structural linguistics: An approach that analyzes language as a system of interrelated elements. Bally’s account of expressive language develops within the structural framework he shared with Saussure.
Affective meaning: The emotional or attitudinal associations conveyed by linguistic forms beyond their basic reference. Bally analyzed how everyday forms communicate feeling alongside intellectual content.
Charles Secrétan: A Swiss philosopher and theologian whose work formed part of Bally’s intellectual milieu. Bally’s Geneva context included Swiss intellectual traditions beyond linguistics.
Geneva School: A tradition of linguistics associated with the University of Geneva and Saussure’s structural approach. Bally’s scholarship and teaching helped establish the Geneva setting in which this tradition developed.
Langue and parole: Saussure’s distinction between a language’s shared system and its individual use in speech. Bally’s stylistics examines expressive choices made within a shared linguistic system.
Linguistic register: A variety of language associated with a particular situation, purpose, or relationship. Differences in register reveal expressive choices within French usage.

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