Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in the Sciences, Leipzig, Germany; Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany.
Trends Cogn Sci. 2015 Oct;19(10):603-615. doi: 10.1016/j.tics.2015.07.013.
The notion that the form of a word bears an arbitrary relation to its meaning accounts only partly for the attested relations between form and meaning in the languages of the world. Recent research suggests a more textured view of vocabulary structure, in which arbitrariness is complemented by iconicity (aspects of form resemble aspects of meaning) and systematicity (statistical regularities in forms predict function). Experimental evidence suggests these form-to-meaning correspondences serve different functions in language processing, development, and communication: systematicity facilitates category learning by means of phonological cues, iconicity facilitates word learning and communication by means of perceptuomotor analogies, and arbitrariness facilitates meaning individuation through distinctive forms. Processes of cultural evolution help to explain how these competing motivations shape vocabulary structure.
认为单词的形式与其意义之间存在任意关系，这只能部分解释世界上各种语言中形式与意义之间的已有关系。最近的研究表明，词汇结构的观点更为细致，其中任意性与象似性（形式的某些方面类似于意义的某些方面）和系统性（形式中的统计规律预测功能）相辅相成。实验证据表明，这些形式与意义的对应关系在语言处理、发展和交流中具有不同的功能：系统性通过语音线索促进类别学习，象似性通过感知运动类比促进单词学习和交流，而任意性通过独特的形式促进意义个体化。文化进化过程有助于解释这些相互竞争的动机如何塑造词汇结构。
