再论语言符号是否具有任意性

Another Comment on the Arbitrariness of Linguistic Signs

语言符号是否具有任意性,是语言学领域中古老而常新的核心问题。这种论证的积极意义是非常值得肯定的,但无论从何种角度出发,都应该以语言符号是一种符号体系为基础,认识到语言符号是语音和语义的结合体,具有所有符号的共性:任意性;同时也具有其特性:强制性和社会性等。而且由于语言符号包含着多方面的内容,不同的内容和方面,强调的重点也不同。因此,应该辨证、全面地分析语言符号的任意性,特别要注意到语言符号的任意性和强制性是交织在一起的整体,不能单纯地将任意性从其它特性中割裂出来。

Whether the linguistic sign is arbitrary or not, has always been the core issue of all disputes in the field of linguistics. The positive value of the issue is affirmative. But, no matter what direction or angle we are selecting, we must recognize that the linguistic sign, as the combination of sound and sense, is based upon a system of signals. In addition to its own peculiarities of compulsiveness and seciality, it has the characeristics of arbitrariness of all signs. As the linguistic sign covers many aspects and contents with different focuses, we should analyze the arbitrariness in a dialectical and comprehensive way. Special importance must be attached to the fact that the arbitrariness and compulsiveness of the linguistic sign is intertwined as an integrate whole, and that its arbitrariness is inseparable from the other characteristics.