Practice question · True or false
Arbitrariness means there is never any resemblance between a form and its meaning.
Hints
- Consider onomatopoeia and the bouba/kiki effect.
- Iconicity is widespread in signed languages and measurable in spoken ones.
Show the answer
False
Why
False. Arbitrariness is the claim that resemblance is not required, not that it never occurs. Sound symbolism replicates across languages, and signed languages contain a great deal of iconicity while remaining fully conventional and productive, which is why the old argument that iconicity disqualified them was a mistake.
Practise Design Features: What Makes Language Language
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More questions on Design Features: What Makes Language Language
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