对索绪尔“语言符号任意性”观点的重新解读

Re-interpretation of Saussure’s View on the Arbitrariness of Linguistic Signs

语言作为一种特殊的符号系统,它涉及到符号对对象指称的真实意蕴。语言符号在反映人类认知视野中的客观世界,正是需要一种假借形式来表达和固化人们对客观世界的认识结果。索绪尔对语言符号任意性的论断仅从音义对应的层面来解释语言符号与指称对象的关系,在符号学和认知语言学的理论视角下,这只能看成是语言符号本质反映的一个小小侧面,而非语言符号本质属性的全部,即,任意性学说无法完整传达出人对客观认识的真实意涵,完全否定了语言符号的象征性,是对语言符号建构过程中隐喻象似性这一根本特性和原则存在的严重忽视。

Being a kind of symbol system, language involves in referential meaning of the linguistic signs. As reflecting human＇ s cognition on objective world, linguistic signs need a form of borrowed meanings to express and consolidate the result of people＇s understanding of the real world. From the theoretical perspective of semiotics and cognitive linguistics, Saussure＇s statement on the arbitrariness of linguistic signs, which only explains the relationship between linguistic signs and referents, is not all of the linguistic signs＇ essence but an aspect of its reflection. The arbitrariness of language doesn＇ t convey the real meaning of human＇ s objective knowledge, denies the emblematic of linguistic signs, and ignores the fundamental characteristic and principle of metaDhorical iconicity during the process of language signs＇ construction.