Un mélange genevois
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Jui-Pi Chien
Abstract
This paper explores some notions of iconicity in the newly published Writings in General Linguistics by Saussure. It begins by revisiting the imputed opposition between symbol and sign, and then proposes some contexts which serve to discover iconic traits in Saussure’s theory. In order to relate Saussure’s ideas to the attempts at defining ‘the iconic sign’, the author draws on the controversy over ‘cognitive type’ – whether we should rely on concrete objects in reality or some established laws and principles in interpreting images. Moreover, some conceptual tools like langue, séme and sôme are discussed within the broadened schemes of signs which Saussure proposed in his manuscripts. Finally, the paper concludes with an analysis of ‘the symbolic logic’ and ‘analogical reasoning’, which not only dissolves the opposition between symbol and sign, but also recognizes rules or principles as keys to our perception of similarities between systems of signs.
Abstract
This paper explores some notions of iconicity in the newly published Writings in General Linguistics by Saussure. It begins by revisiting the imputed opposition between symbol and sign, and then proposes some contexts which serve to discover iconic traits in Saussure’s theory. In order to relate Saussure’s ideas to the attempts at defining ‘the iconic sign’, the author draws on the controversy over ‘cognitive type’ – whether we should rely on concrete objects in reality or some established laws and principles in interpreting images. Moreover, some conceptual tools like langue, séme and sôme are discussed within the broadened schemes of signs which Saussure proposed in his manuscripts. Finally, the paper concludes with an analysis of ‘the symbolic logic’ and ‘analogical reasoning’, which not only dissolves the opposition between symbol and sign, but also recognizes rules or principles as keys to our perception of similarities between systems of signs.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface and acknowledgements ix
- Introduction xi
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Part I. Word forms, word formation, and meaning
- Toward a phonosemantic definition of iconic words 3
- Iconic thinking and the contact-induced transfer of linguistic material 19
- Ezra Pound among the Mawu 39
- Cognitive iconic grounding of reduplication in language 55
- Imagic iconicity in the Chinese language 83
- Words in the mirror 101
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Part II. General theoretical approaches
- Un mélange genevois 135
- How to put art and brain together 149
- Image, diagram, and metaphor 157
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Part III. Narrative grammatical structures
- The farmers sowed seeds and hopes 175
- Non-iconic chronology in English narrative texts 191
- A burning world of war 211
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Part IV. Cognitive poetics
- Aesthetic qualities as structural resemblance 233
- Mental space mapping in classical Chinese poetry 251
- Iconicity in conceptual blending 269
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Part V. Acoustic and visual iconicity
- Thematized iconicity and iconic devices in the modern novel 291
- Iconicity and intermediality in Charles Simic’s Dime-Store Alchemy 313
- Words, like shells, are signs as well as things 327
- Unveiling creative subplots through the non-traditional application of diagrammatic iconicity 343
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Part VI. Intermedial iconicity
- The iconic indexicality of photography 355
- Unbinding the text 369
- Argumentative, iconic, and indexical structures in Schubert’s Die schöne Müllerin 389
- John Irving’s A Widow for One Year and Tod Williams’ The Door in the Floor as ‘(mult-)i-conic’ works of art 405
- Author index 423
- Subject index 425
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface and acknowledgements ix
- Introduction xi
-
Part I. Word forms, word formation, and meaning
- Toward a phonosemantic definition of iconic words 3
- Iconic thinking and the contact-induced transfer of linguistic material 19
- Ezra Pound among the Mawu 39
- Cognitive iconic grounding of reduplication in language 55
- Imagic iconicity in the Chinese language 83
- Words in the mirror 101
-
Part II. General theoretical approaches
- Un mélange genevois 135
- How to put art and brain together 149
- Image, diagram, and metaphor 157
-
Part III. Narrative grammatical structures
- The farmers sowed seeds and hopes 175
- Non-iconic chronology in English narrative texts 191
- A burning world of war 211
-
Part IV. Cognitive poetics
- Aesthetic qualities as structural resemblance 233
- Mental space mapping in classical Chinese poetry 251
- Iconicity in conceptual blending 269
-
Part V. Acoustic and visual iconicity
- Thematized iconicity and iconic devices in the modern novel 291
- Iconicity and intermediality in Charles Simic’s Dime-Store Alchemy 313
- Words, like shells, are signs as well as things 327
- Unveiling creative subplots through the non-traditional application of diagrammatic iconicity 343
-
Part VI. Intermedial iconicity
- The iconic indexicality of photography 355
- Unbinding the text 369
- Argumentative, iconic, and indexical structures in Schubert’s Die schöne Müllerin 389
- John Irving’s A Widow for One Year and Tod Williams’ The Door in the Floor as ‘(mult-)i-conic’ works of art 405
- Author index 423
- Subject index 425
