On the Function and Limitation of the Arbitrariness of Saussure's Linguistic Signs

摘要

Saussure's general language course is the first masterpiece of modern linguistics. One of the important contents is the arbitrariness of linguistic signs. In this regard, more and more scholars questioned that language signs are iconicity or motivation, iconicity and arbitrariness in opposition, pointed out that Saussure discussed the arbitrariness of language symbol have great limitations, regardless of the signifier and signified, or its elements (pronunciation, vocabulary, syntax), There is a non - arbitrariness; and that, even if Saussure proposed absolute arbitrariness and relative arbitrariness theory, some problems still can't explain. In our opinion, everything in the world is relative, and we should also take a dialectical approach to the arbitrariness of linguistic signs.