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Linguistic Arbitrariness
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By Richard Nordquist
Updated on July 11, 2019

In linguistics, arbitrariness is the absence of any natural or necessary

connection between a word's meaning and its sound or form. An
antithesis to sound symbolism, which does exhibit an apparent
connection between sound and sense, arbitrariness is one of the
characteristics shared between all languages.

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As R.L. Trask points out in "​Language: The Basics:

"the overwhelming presence of arbitrariness in language is the chief reason

it takes so long to learn the ​vocabulary of a foreign language."

This is largely due to confusion over similar-sounding words in a

secondary language.​

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Trask goes on to use the example of trying to guess the names of creatures
in a foreign language based on the sound and form alone, providing a list
of Basque words — "zaldi, igel, txori, oilo, behi, sagu," which mean "horse,
frog, bird, hen, cow, and mouse respectively" — then observing that
arbitrariness is not unique to humans but instead exists within all forms
of communication.

Language Is Arbitrary
Therefore, all language can be assumed to be arbitrary, at least in this
linguistic definition of the word, despite occasional iconic characteristics.
Instead of universal rules and uniformity, then, language relies on
associations of word meanings deriving from cultural conventions.
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To break this concept down further, linguist Edward Finegan wrote in

Language: Its Structure and Use about the difference between
nonarbitrary and arbitrary semiotic signs through an observation of a
mother and son burning rice. "Imagine a parent trying to catch a few
minutes of the televised evening news while preparing dinner," he writes.
"Suddenly a strong aroma of burning rice wafts into the TV room. This
nonarbitrary sign will send the parent scurrying to salvage dinner."

The little boy, he posits, might also signal to his mother that the rice is
burning by saying something like "The rice is burning!" However, Finegan
argues that while the utterance is likely to elicit the same result of the
mother checking on her cooking, the words themselves are arbitrary — it
is "a set of facts about English (not about burning rice) that enables the
utterance to alert the parent," which makes the utterance an
arbitrary sign.
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Different Languages, Different Conventions

As a result of languages' reliance on cultural conventions, different
languages naturally have different conventions, that can and do change
— which is part of the reason that there are different languages in the
first place!

Second language learners must, therefore, learn each new word

individually as it's generally impossible to guess the meaning of an
unfamiliar word — even when given clues to the word's meaning.

Even linguistic rules are considered to be slightly arbitrary. However,

Timothy Endicott writes in ​The Value of Vagueness that:

"with all norms of language, there is a good reason to have such norms for
the use of words in such ways. That good reason is that it is actually
necessary to do so to achieve the coordination that enables communication,
self-expression and all the other priceless benefits of having a language."

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