Mainly just curious to see how many non-US people we have. I know some languages have more than one word for owl.
Where are you from, and how do you say owl where you are from, and what sound do they make?
this post was submitted on 10 Sep 2023
133 points (93.5% liked)
Superbowl
3372 readers
429 users here now
For owls that are superb.
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
In his famous Course in General Linguistics, Saussure uses a similar example to demonstrate that onomatopoeia are just as arbitrary as all other signs (words).
Because one could argue that onomatopoeia is where signs seem less arbitrary. After all, those words try to reproduce a seeming objective reality, namely an existing sound. In this case, owls' hoots. But this image shows that's not the case, just like Saussure argued.
This post has branched out in so many directions!
I've never heard of Saussure before, so I found a quick summary of what you said and it seems to say we simplify a lot of things into something good enough so we don't need to reinvent our languages to have everything make perfect sense.
I enjoy things that make different cultures unique, and this becomes a more interesting thread with every post so far. I'm learning so many things from you all on a little owl post. But owls have represented wisdom for many people for a long time, so I guess it is fitting!