二十年来中国语言符号任意性与象似性之争

On Arbitrariness and Iconicity of Linguistic Signs in Recent 20 Years in China

任意性与象似性的争论经历了三个阶段,关于语言符号的性质大约有三种不同的观点,现在大部分学者对语言符号的性质都持辩证的观点。任意性与象似性争论的焦点主要在以下几方面:(1)语言符号的音义间有无必然联系;(2)任意性是就历时层面还是共时层面而言的;(3)对任意性、约定俗成、象似性等术语的不同理解。文章最后指出了争论的实质、过去研究的不足和未来研究的重点。

The dispute between arbitrariness and iconicity of linguistic signs in China has undergone three phases. While there have been three different views concerning the nature of linguistic signs, most scholars nowadays look at the issue dialectically. The dispute has been focused mainly on whether or not there is an obvious connection between the sounds and meanings of linguistic signs; arbitrariness works from a diachronic view or a synchronic one and the different understandings of terms like arbitrariness,convention and iconicity, etc. At the end, the paper points out the essence of the dispute, the weaknesses of previous studies and the focus for future studies.