【正确答案】正确答案：Saussure is the first to notice the complexities of language. He sees human language as an extremely complex and heterogeneous phenomenon.(1 point) Saussure believes that language is a system of signs that uses sound to express or exchange ideas. The sign is the union of a form and an idea, i. e. , the signifier and the signified. The sign is the central fact of language, and therefore the study of language must be started from the nature of the sign itself.(1 point) Saussure directs our attention to essentials of language and makes clear the object of study for linguistics as a science. His ideas on the arbitrary nature of sign, on the relational nature of linguistic units, on the distinction of signifier and signified, langue and parole, synchronic and diachronic research, etc. push linguistics into a brand new stage.(1 point) In short, all linguistics in the 20th century are Saussurean linguistics, comparative and historical linguistics, structural linguistics and transformational-generative linguistics included. These linguistic theories, though different in many ways, but all contain elements that make them a science.(2 points)

【答案解析】解析：考查语言学如何成为一门科学。被称为当代语言学之父的索绪尔从语言本体的角度界定了“语言”，明确地限定了语言学的研究对象、范围和重点，他认为语言是交流思想的符号系统，而符号是形式和意义的结合。除此之外，他区分了几组重要概念：所指和能指、语言与言语、共时研究和历时研究，把研究引向语言的本质，廓清了语言学作为一门科学所要研究的对象。因此，语言学脱离了早期什么都研究、什么都难以深入的缺陷，走上了研究对象相对单纯、逐步形成本学科特有的理论体系和方法论体系的现代科学之路。