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Onomatopoeia challenges the principle of:

AArbitrariness of the sign

BLinear nature of the sign

CLangue and parole

DSystematic differences

Answer:

A. Arbitrariness of the sign

Read Explanation:

  • Onomatopoeia refers to words that imitate or resemble the natural sounds they describe.

  • These words have a more iconic relationship between their form (signifier) and their meaning (signified).

    For example:

"buzz" imitates the sound of a bee,

"clang" imitates the sound of metal hitting metal.

  • Saussure viewed most linguistic signs as arbitrary (the connection between the signifier and the signified is based on social convention), but onomatopoeia seems to challenge this idea because there is a more natural connection between the sound and the object or action it represents.

  • However, Saussure still considered onomatopoeic words to be part of the system of signs because even they depend on social agreement to be understood in context.


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