While the ideal form of geographical diversity would, according to
Saussure, be the direct correspondence of different languages to different
areas, the asserted reality is that secondary factors must be considered in
tandem with the geographical separation of different cultures.
For Saussure, time is the primary catalyst of linguistic diversity, not
distance. To illustrate his argument, Saussure considers a hypothetical
population of colonists, who move from one island to another. Initially, there
is no difference between the language spoken by the colonists on the new island
and their homeland counterparts, in spite of the obvious geographical
disconnect. Saussure thereby establishes that the study of geographical diversity
is necessarily concentrated upon the effects of time on linguistic development.
Taking a monoglot community as his model (that is, a community which speaks
only one language), Saussure outlines the manner in which a language might
develop and gradually undergo subdivision into distinct dialects.
Saussure’s model of differentiation has 2 basic principles: (1) that
linguistic evolution occurs through successive changes made to specific
linguistic elements; and (2) that these changes each belong to a specific area,
which they affect either wholly or partially.
It then follows from these principles that dialects have no natural
boundary, since at any geographical point a particular language is undergoing
some change. At best, they are defined by “waves of innovation”—in other words,
areas where some set of innovations converge and overlap.