René de Saussure

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René de Saussure (March 17, 1868, Geneva – December 2, 1943, Berne) was a Swiss Esperantist and professional mathematician, who composed important works about Esperanto and interlinguistics from a linguistic viewpoint. His chef d'ouevre is an analysis on the logic of word construction in Esperanto, Fundamentaj reguloj de la vortteorio en Esperanto, ("Fundamental rules of word theory in Esperanto") defending the language against several Idist critiques. He developed the concept of neceso kaj sufiĉo ("necessity and sufficience") by which he opposed the criticism of Louis Couturat that Esperanto lacks recursion.

Beginning in 1919, de Saussure proposed a series of Esperanto reforms, and in 1925, he renounced Esperanto in favor of his language Esperanto II.^[1] He later became a consultant for the International Auxiliary Language Association, the linguistic research body that standardized and presented Interlingua.^[2]

René was the brother of the famous linguist Ferdinand de Saussure.

[edit] References

^ Sometimes called Nov-Esperanto. See for example Breinstrup, Thomas, Stenström, Ingvar, and Olsson, Jesper, Biographias: Helen Slocomb Eaton, Historia de Interlingua, 2002. Accessed February 26, 2008.
^ Esterhill, Frank, Interlingua Institute: A History. New York: Interlingua Institute, 2000.