Saussure’s theory of language is based on the distinction between language and speech. He believes that linguistics can only “study language in terms of language”, excluding any non-linguistic factors (such as social, physical, verbal... ...); as far as language is concerned, it is necessary to distinguish between temporal and diachronic. Linguistics only studies the temporal language system, excluding the interference of any diachronic factors; while the study of diachronic language systems In other words, only the form is studied, not the essence. The assertion that "language is form, not substance" is a concentrated expression of this idea. What is language form? In short, it is the combination relationship and aggregation relationship. Therefore, the combination relationship and aggregation relationship Relationship is the core of Saussure's language theory. Later, the theories and methods of widely influential schools such as structural linguistics, transformational-generative linguistics, and systemic-functional linguistics were developed based on Saussure's language theory.

Saussure’s linguistic thought is today called “Saussurean linguistics”, also known as “Saussureanism”. The influence of Saussure’s linguistic theory is not limited to linguistics. Modern anthropology, psychoanalysis, literature, philosophy, drama and other fields have been profoundly affected by it, and the theories and methods of "General Linguistics Tutorial" are used to analyze the structure of the objects studied in these disciplines.

This work became the pioneering work of modern linguistics and structural linguistics in the twentieth century. Many theoretical foundations of modern linguistics come from this book.

Another important discovery of Saussure. It is: the syntax of text and general pragmatics is different. Soxhlet discovered an important Laryngeal theory in the Indo-European philosophical tradition.

Roland Barthes's "Mythology". The book allows us to know that Saussure's symbolic analysis can be extended to the second level of "myth analysis"

Saussure's theory is also advocated by Jacques Lacan (returning to Freud). The school of psychoanalysis played an important role, especially Lagan's works in the 1960s, which made extensive use of the theory of structural linguistics, bringing about important changes in psychoanalysis and re-emphasis on linguistic analysis as the core of psychoanalysis. method. However, Lagan's application of linguistics is also different from Saussure's approach. Lagan's method inverts the subordination relationship between the signifier and the signified in language, creating a system in which the signifier precedes the signified. Some commentators believe that this is the beginning of Lagan’s rationalism and the beginning of poststructuralism’s revision of Saussure. In short, Saussure’s famous saying: “The relationship between signifier and signified (or signifier and intention). The relationship between them is arbitrary. ” was developed in Lagon’s theory, which also enabled Lagon to integrate psychoanalysis and structural linguistics.