Plato's dialogue Cratylus begins with a debate. Socrates is asked whether the sounds of words are simply arbitrary conventions, as Hermogenes suggests, or if sounds are reflective in some way of their ...

It appears that meanings of words are far more often associated with certain sounds than is printed in linguistics textbooks. Up to now, linguists assumed that the association between how words sound ...

A comprehensive case for supplementing the cherished principle of arbitrariness with other types of associations between form and meaning has been proposed by authors of a new report. "It's not that ...

This news release is available in German. "It's not that arbitrariness was a bad idea. It is an important principle, but it doesn't fully explain how words work," says Mark Dingemanse, language ...

Oftentimes definitions can limit you, imposing unnecessary constraints, enclosing things within the four corners of a narrow, ...

Words in the English language are structured to help children learn, according to research. Words like "woof" accurately represent the sound of a dog while sounds with similar meanings may have a ...