| ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS | 第1-5页 |
| 前言 | 第5-13页 |
| ABSTRACT | 第13-14页 |
| 摘要 | 第14-18页 |
| CHAPTER ONE THE DEBATE ON ARBITRARINESS AND ICONICITY IN LINUISTIC SIGNS | 第18-29页 |
| ·The origin of the dispute | 第18-20页 |
| ·The Naturalists vs. the Conventionists in ancient Greece | 第18页 |
| ·Leibniz vs. Locke in 17~(th) century | 第18-20页 |
| ·Humboldts vs. Whitney in 19~(th) century | 第20页 |
| ·The debate abroad since Saussure | 第20-25页 |
| ·The views held by advocates of the principle of arbitrariness | 第21-23页 |
| ·Meillet's echo of the tenet | 第21页 |
| ·Sapir's viewpoint | 第21-22页 |
| ·Hockett's argument | 第22页 |
| ·Other linguists' viewpoints | 第22-23页 |
| ·Views opposed to the principle of arbitrariness | 第23-25页 |
| ·The Challenging View of Roman Jakobson | 第23-24页 |
| ·The Challenging Views of functionalists | 第24-25页 |
| ·The state of the study at home | 第25-26页 |
| ·Summary | 第26-29页 |
| CHAPTER TWO THE REEXAMINATION OF ARBITRARINESS | 第29-37页 |
| ·Two components of a sign | 第29-31页 |
| ·Saussure's explanation | 第29-30页 |
| ·Contemporary linguists' interpretation | 第30-31页 |
| ·Saussure's absolute arbitrariness | 第31-32页 |
| ·My interpretation | 第32页 |
| ·Factors restricting arbitrariness | 第32-34页 |
| ·Arbitrariness and Conventionality | 第32-33页 |
| ·Arbitrariness and Systematicity | 第33-34页 |
| ·Saussure's Relative Arbitrariness | 第34-37页 |
| CHAPTER THREE THE REEXAMINATION OF ICONICITY | 第37-46页 |
| ·Peircean model of the taxonomy of signs | 第37-39页 |
| ·Symbol | 第38页 |
| ·Indexes | 第38-39页 |
| ·Icon | 第39页 |
| ·Categories of iconicity | 第39-46页 |
| ·Imagic Iconicity | 第40-43页 |
| ·Onomatopoeic signs | 第40-41页 |
| ·Sound symbolism | 第41-43页 |
| ·Diagrammatic iconicity | 第43-45页 |
| ·Metaphorical iconicity | 第45-46页 |
| CHAPTER FOUR COMPLEMENTARITY OF ARBITRARINESS TO ICONICITY | 第46-65页 |
| ·Iconicity and Motivation | 第46-47页 |
| ·Complementarity of arbitrariness to iconicity | 第47-65页 |
| ·Comparing theories of Saussure and Peirce | 第47-48页 |
| ·Structural Approach | 第48-55页 |
| ·Morphosyntactic structure | 第48-50页 |
| ·Syntactic Structure | 第50-51页 |
| ·Iconicity on textual level | 第51-53页 |
| ·Summary | 第53-55页 |
| ·From the Perspective of the Evolution of Language | 第55-59页 |
| ·At lexical level | 第55-58页 |
| ·Syntactic change and iconicity | 第58-59页 |
| ·From the perspective of verbal communication | 第59-65页 |
| ·Language production in communication | 第59-62页 |
| ·Mutual understanding in communication | 第62-64页 |
| ·Brief conclusion | 第64-65页 |
| CHAPTER FIVE A CASE STUDY IN THE MEDIUM OF INTERNET | 第65-76页 |
| ·Data:Asynchronous BBS | 第65-66页 |
| ·Arbitrariness of basic elements | 第66-67页 |
| ·Arbitrariness and Iconicity on the Internet | 第67-72页 |
| ·Abbreviation | 第67-69页 |
| ·Acronyms | 第67-69页 |
| ·Rebus writing | 第69页 |
| ·Language of onomatopoeic | 第69-70页 |
| ·Images in signatures | 第70-72页 |
| ·Concluding Remarks | 第72-73页 |
| ·Summary: Language is both arbitrary and non- arbitrary | 第73-76页 |
| Bibliography: | 第76-81页 |
