Language as an Adaptation to the Cognitive Niche

Language as an Adaptation to the Cognitive Niche

Pinker, Steven
Studies in the Evolution of Language 3 (2003): 16-37
https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199244843.003.0002

“As Ferdinand de Saussure pointed out, a word is an arbitrary sign: a connection between a signal and a concept shared by the members of the community. The word duck does not look like a duck, walk like a duck, or quack like a duck, but I can use it to convey the idea of a duck because we all have learned the same connection between the sound and the meaning. I can therefore bring the idea to mind in a listener simply by making that noise. If instead I had to shape the signal to evoke the thought using some perceptible connection between its form and its content, every word would require the inefficient contortions of the game of charades.”

— Steven Pinker