Born November 12 1915, Cherbourg. Died in Paris on March 26 1980.
Education and professional career
- 1934 : Lycées Montaigne and Louis-le-Grand
- 1939 : Bachelor's degree in Classics, University of Paris
- 1939 : Teacher at Lycée de Biarritz
- 1940 : Teacher at Lycées Voltaire and Buffon, Paris
- 1941 : Diploma of Advanced Studies
- 1943 : Certificate in grammar and philology of classical languages
- 1948 : Professor at the French Institute in Bucharest
- 1949 : Professor at the French Institute in Alexandria
- 1950 : Writer at the Cultural Relations Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
- 1951 : Assistant in Georges Matoré's structural lexicology laboratory at Paris University
- 1953 : Research intern at CNRS
- 1956 : Research associate at CNRS
- 1958 : Visiting professor at Middlebruy College (Vermont, USA)
- 1960 : Head of research at the VIe section of the École Pratique des Hautes Études
- 1962 : Director of Studies at the École Pratique des Hautes Études
- 1971 : Visiting Professor at the University of Geneva
- 1977 : Chair of Semiology at the Collège de France
- 1977 : Colloquium " Prétexte : Roland Barthes " at Cerisy-la-Salle, directed by Antoine Compagnon
