语言符号的任意性问题——语言哲学探索之一

Is language a system of arbitrary signs? The theory reconsidered

语言符号具有“任意性”特征,我国许多普通语言学论著中部有提到。在西方,Saus-sure《普通语言学教程》第一部分,第一、二章和sapir《语言》

The author proposes to take a new look at the theory of arbitrariness which, he points out, has never been uniformly defined. Saussure equates 'arbitraire' with immotivé; Sapir takes it to mean conventional, Hockett offers the view of non-iconicity, while Claude Lévi-Strauss accepts it only as an a priori view of language. The real issue is whether there exists a natural link between sound and sense and if not, what relation should we make of it?The difference between arbitrary and conventional is emphasized. The naming of one object, using one word, by one man, at one time is in the true sense an arbitrary act. If the naming is done in consultation with another person or a group of persons, then the result is a consensus, which can not be called arbitrary; if done in reference to one word. or a set of words, then the newly invented word must fit into the set already existing, so (1) the existing set of words is sure to exercise its selection of the new member being admitted, and (2) social experience resulting from the words already in use must have its selection as well. Adam's naming of things at bidding of God is the first and only case of arbitrary naming. From the second generation on there is bound to be some consultation and by the time of the Tower of Babel the people's language was already so powerful as to have frightened God, and it must have been a well-formed system if indeed it was that powerful. A system, to be a system, has to be a set whose members are mutually distinct and mutually exclusive, and to assume that a now member could be arbitrarily admitted is theoretically untenable.