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In lectures delivered at the University of Geneva from 1907 to 1913, Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure set forth his groundbreaking distinction between "langue" - the systematic, structured language existing at a given time within a given society - and "parole," the individual use of that language by a person. In French, "langue" literally means "language." It was adopted into Middle English with that same general meaning but fell into disuse. "Parole" is also a French word; it means "speech" and is related to Late Latin parabola, the base of our English word parable.
Examples of langue in a Sentence
Diedrich Diederichsen, Artforum, 1 Sep. 2024
In French, your native language is a langue maternelle, in Spanish, lengua materna, in German, Muttersprache.
—Madeleine Schwartz Soneela Nankani Tanya Pérez Brian St. Pierre, New York Times, 14 May 2024
The posts were part of a larger pool of hundreds that included hostile, racist or sexualized langue to attack the judges short of explicitly calling for violence.
—Aysha Bagchi, USA TODAY, 14 May 2024
Key Takeaways ChatGPT, a large langue model developed by OpenAI, went viral after its release in November 2022.
—Stephanie Brown, Verywell Health, 11 Feb. 2023
The mayor added another reason to revisit the sign langue pertained to early voting.
—John Benson, cleveland, 23 Feb. 2022
There are versions in Ethiopic, Old Norse, and the langue d’oc.
—Hari Kunzru, Harper’s Magazine , 4 Jan. 2022
Kate Cox, Tech Policy Reporter: Oui, il faut l'utiliser quand écrire dans une langue utilisant des signes diacritiques.
—Sam MacHkovech, Ars Technica, 12 Apr. 2020
In tarnished silver light the royal ravens spoke la langue verte, the green tongue
of living speech.
—L. S. Asekoff, Harper's magazine, 19 Aug. 2019
Cite this Entry
“Langue.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/langue. Accessed 4 Nov. 2025.
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