Minimal sign

Definition

Minimal sign is a term which is introduced into linguistic theory in De Saussure's Cours de linguistique générale. A minimal sign is the minimal meaningful unit of a language where the relation between (phonetic) form and meaning is purely arbitrary.

Links

• Utrecht Lexicon of Linguistics

References

• Aronoff, M. 1976. Word Formation in Generative Grammar, MIT-press, Cambridge, Mass.
• Saussure, Ferdinand de 1931. Cours de Linguistique Général,