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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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