Saussure’s Notion of Arbitrariness: Sign Language

When I see the first video of sign language of ASL, I could understand that the man in the video wants to express the word fish , because I know how to pronounce the word fish , I can see the man s mouth movements and he is pronouncing fish .

On the other hand, this man is imitating the movement of fish by his hand, so by these actions I can clearly understand he is saying fish by sign language. For the second video of sign language of Libras, I thought she is trying to say the word swallo w , because she puts her hand near to her throat and point downward.

For the third video of sign language of BSL, I could understand she is trying to say the word fish if I just watch the movement of her mouth, but if I just watch the movement of her hand it is hard for me to associate that she is expressing the word fish , I would think that maybe she is trying to say the word close .

For the forth video of sign language of CZJ, I think she is express the word butterfly .

For the fifth video of sign language of IPSL, I think he is trying to say the word caterpillar . For the sixth video of sign language of TID, I think she is trying to tell people walk or go left, or make a left turn, instead of express a word. For the last video I thought she wants to express a bad feeling instead of a word.

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Because there are two people from 7 sign languages trying to say the word fish , I think the unified meaning for all 7 sign languages is fish.

Saussure s notion of arbitrariness does not in fact seem to be validated for sign languages. Because for people who need sign language to communicate need to express their feelings or their ideas by gesticulations. People who doesn’t need to use sign language can easily express their ideas, their feelings by talking, and when a man or a woman is talking, other people just need to listen to him or her, they don’t need to use hands to describe a thing, all they need to do is say the word, at the same time they can use their hands do their job.

Unlike people who need sign language to communicate, they could not say any words and all they can do is describe a thing by their hands. And people who teach deaf-mute sign language at the first time need to say the word and describe the thing at the same time, although deaf -mute could hear the voice, but it is easier to help them to memorize, or understand how to describe a thing or say a word. Which means Saussure s notion of arbitrariness does not in fact seem to be validated for sign languages.