语言符号的任意性原则是瑞士学者索绪尔首先提出的。这在他建立的现代结构语言学体系中占有十分重要的地位。索绪尔把任意性看成是“两个头等重要特征”中的头一个。然而语言符号的任意性原则从一开始就引起了非常多的争论。任意性和理据性始终是两个纠缠不休的概念。本文力图 The arbitrariness of linguistic signs is first proposed by Saussure, a Swiss scholar. This occupies a very important position in the modern structural linguistics system that he established. Saussure sees arbitrariness as the first of two “first-class important features.” However, the principle of arbitrariness of linguistic signs has caused much controversy from the very beginning. Arbitrariness and motivation have always been two entangled concepts. This article tries hard