User:Jahsonic/The linguistic sign is not arbitrary  

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-[[Image:Sign and signifier as imagined by de Saussure.jpg|thumb|right|200px|[[Sign]] and [[signifier]] as imagined by [[de Saussure]]]]+[[Image:Sign and signifier as imagined by de Saussure.jpg|thumb|right|200px|[[Sign]] and [[signifier]] (sound-image) as imagined by [[de Saussure]]]]
[[Image:The-bouba-kiki-effect.png|thumb|right|200px|The [[Bouba/kiki effect]] (1929)]] [[Image:The-bouba-kiki-effect.png|thumb|right|200px|The [[Bouba/kiki effect]] (1929)]]
[[Image:The linguistic sign is arbitrary (de Saussure).jpg|thumb|right|200px|[[The linguistic sign is arbitrary]] ([[de Saussure]]), see [[Course_in_General_Linguistics#Arbitrariness]]]] [[Image:The linguistic sign is arbitrary (de Saussure).jpg|thumb|right|200px|[[The linguistic sign is arbitrary]] ([[de Saussure]]), see [[Course_in_General_Linguistics#Arbitrariness]]]]

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Sign and signifier (sound-image) as imagined by de Saussure
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Sign and signifier (sound-image) as imagined by de Saussure
The Bouba/kiki effect (1929)

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At the beginning of the 20th century, the Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure in his canonical Course in General Linguistics (1916) stated that:

The bond between the signifier and the signified is arbitrary. Since I mean by sign the whole that results from the associating of the signifier with the signified, I can simply say: the linguistic sign is arbitrary. [1]source

These findings have implications for the evolution of language, because it suggests that the naming of objects is arbitrary and not dependent on sound symbolism.

But the linguistic sign is not arbitrary!

Isn't the Bouba/kiki effect an instance of or proof of a universal language ruled by sound symbolism?

Not only does 95% of the informants assign "kiki" to the angular shape and "bouba" to the curvilinear shape, informal research conducted by myself indicates that when informants are asked which of the two shapes is the 'smart' one and which is the 'dumb' one, "kiki" is usually designated as the smart one (remember, sharp in English also means intelligent) and "bouba" the dumb one (likewise, dull means not intelligent).

This means that shapes can be connected both to sounds and to affects.

I was surprised not to see the Bouba/kiki effect in The Search for the Perfect Language (The Making of Europe) by Umberto Eco.

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