This scientific-historical study investigates whether sociolinguistics can be combined with Hjelmslevian glossematics based on Saussurean theory. It provides analyses of the life and work of de Saussure and Hjelmslev and of the activities of the Copenhagen linguistic circle and describes their implications for the theory of science and for sociolinguistics. In theorizing about language as variation, G. does not explicitly discuss to what degree variation is structured or what the implications are of the connection between structure and variation on his language theory.