The arbitrariness of linguistic signs advocated by Ferdinand de Saussure means that the relationship between the “signifier” and the “signified” is immotivated The “signifier” does not refer to the physical sound, but the sound image left in the mind of man Nor does the “signified” refer to the physical substances, but the notion standing for the substances There exist no natural links or motivations between the sound image and the notion As for a particular language, there exists a very low degree of iconicity in such sound signs as onomatopoeic words, but some motivations can be found among such writing signs as pictographic characters, compound words and derivatives