What are Saussure's concepts of "langue" and "parole"?

The concepts were elaborated by the Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure during his courses on general linguistics at the University of Geneva from 1907 to 1911. Saussure died in 1912, but the notes of his course were published posthumously in 1916 as Cours de Linguistique Générale. The concepts of "langue" and "parole" are part of his effort to shift the study of linguistics from a predominantly diachronic to a synchronic paradigm. The diachronic approach had focused mainly on historical changes in languages, while Saussure tried to understand how a linguistic system works. The "langue" is the social dimension of language and is formed by the general linguistic conventions (grammar rules, syntax) that we all share in a given language. The "parole" represents the single utterances that individuals create.

Can you explain Saussure's concepts of langue and parole in linguistics?

Ferdinand de Saussure originated and defined the concepts of langue and parole in his seminal work Course in General Linguistics. These became the bedrock of twentieth century linguistics and influenced sociology and anthropology. They also led to Saussure's development of semiology, called semiotics in the U.S.

The dominating study of linguistics, the study of language in all its parts, had been the study of the change in language over time. This field of linguistic study is termed diachronic linguistics. Saussure, in relation to langue and parole, drew a distinction between diachronic linguistic study and synchronic linguistic study, which, in contrast to diachronic, is the study of language as it is used by any given speaker or group of speakers in any given moment in time: it is the study of language in a static, non-historical context.

Langue is the linguistic code, that which comprises the linguistic structure of a language, whereas parole is the use of the code (use of langue) for particular purposes with particular meaning in particular circumstances. Saussure posited langue, the code of language, as the proper domain of linguistic study. By doing so, he separated code (structure, langue) from meaning (parole).

This distinction between langue and parole--code and meaning--is made more complex by Saussure's position, as stated in semiology, that synchronic sign systems of signifier (symbol denoting meaning) and signified (the thing denoted by a sign/signifier) both comprise meaning and are comprised of meaning. Saussure asserts this dialectical (augmenting) relationship of signifier/signified is evident even while he separates langue (code/structure) and parole (realization of meaning in a synchronic context).