And human language uses this amazing trick described by Ferdinand de Saussure, the great linguist, as "The arbitrariness of the sign."

人类语言使用这些,被语言学家费迪南德·德·索绪尔,称之为"符号任意性"的神奇把戏

耶鲁公开课 - 心理学导论课程节选

The important thing about Saussure and the discipline of semiotics is the incredible influence that it has had on virtually every form of subsequent literary theory.

索绪尔和其他符号学家都很关注的一件事就是,符号学对于,任意一种文学理论的影响。

耶鲁公开课 - 文学理论导论课程节选

And what this means is we can use --take any arbitrary idea in the world, the idea of a chair or a story or a country, and make a sound or a sign to connect to it.

符号任意性是指,我们可以拿来世间任何想法,比如椅子,故事,或是国家,再发明一种声音或符号来与之相联系

耶鲁公开课 - 心理学导论课程节选

You've got to realize that in calculus, the symbols that you call x and y are completely arbitrary.

你应该明白在微积分中,选x还是y当符号是完全任意的

耶鲁公开课 - 基础物理课程节选

So that what's new in Saussure's thinking about the relationship between signified and signifier is that the sign tied up in this relationship is both arbitrary and differential.

这就是索绪尔所贡献的了,能指和所指的关系,也就是符号的组成方式,是任意的，有差别的。

耶鲁公开课 - 文学理论导论课程节选

So signs are arbitrary-- and they're also differential.

所以符号是任意的，但是他们也是有差异的。

耶鲁公开课 - 文学理论导论课程节选

The signs are both arbitrary and differential.

符号具有任意性和差异性。

耶鲁公开课 - 文学理论导论课程节选