Iconicity Totally Explained

Everything about Iconicity totally explained

In functional-cognitive linguistics, as well as in semiotics, iconicity is the conceived similarity or analogy between a form of a sign (linguistic or otherwise) and its meaning, as opposed to arbitrariness. Iconic principles:

Quantity principle: formal complexity corresponds to conceptual complexity
Proximity principle: conceptual distance tends to match with linguistic distance
Sequential order principle: the sequential order of events described is mirrored in the speech chain

Quantity principle

The use of quantity of phonetic material to iconically mark increased quality or quantity can be noted in the lengthening of words to indicate a greater degree, such as "looong". It is also common to use reduplication to iconically mark increase, as Sapir is often quoted, “The process is generally employed, with self-evident symbolism, to indicate such concepts as distribution, plurality, repetition, customary activity, increase of size, added intensity, continuance” (1921:79). This has been confirmed by the comparative studies of Key (1965) and Moravcsik (1978). This can be seen, for example, in Amharic: täsäbbärä 'it was broken' and täsäbbabärä 'it was shattered'.
Iconic coding principles are natural tendencies in language and are also part of our cognitive and biological make-up. Onomatopoeia may be seen as a kind of iconicity, though even onomatopoeic sounds have a large degree of arbitrariness.

Iconicity and gesture

Iconicity is often argued to play a large role in the production and perception of gesture. Proposed ways in which iconicity is achieved is through Hands that Act, Embody, Model, and Draw

. In sign languages iconicity was often argued to be largely confined to sign formation. After longer usage the iconicity would no longer play an actual role in perception and production as the sign becomes part of the conventionalized vocabulary (comparable to onomatopeia). More recently, as sign language researchers gain confidence (and the fear of losing linguistic status subsides), iconicity is once again allowed to play a more central role again. Current sign language phonology acknowledges that certain aspects are semantically motivated. An important way in which iconicity plays an active role is in the modulation of signs, where the meaning of a sign is elaborated or altered by changing aspects of it. The ability to work creatively with sign language in this way has been associated with accomplished, or native signers.

Refernces

Haiman, John. 1980. The Iconicity of Grammar: Isomorphism and Motivation. Language 56: 515-540.

Haiman, John. 1983. Iconic and Economic Motivation. Language 59: 781-819.

Further Information

Get more info on 'Iconicity'.

External Link Exchanges

Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:

<a href="http://iconicity.totallyexplained.com">Iconicity Totally Explained</a>

Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned.