Question

Synchronic and diachronic approaches were introduced by:

• A. Chomsky
• B. Saussure
• C. Bloomfield
• D. Sapir

Answer 1

Answer:

B. Saussure

Ferdinand de Saussure, a Swiss linguist, introduced the distinction between:

• Synchronic linguistics: the study of a language at a specific point in time (usually the present).

• Diachronic linguistics: the study of language change over time (historical development).

This distinction laid the foundation for modern structural linguistics.