Three paradigms of iconicity research in language and literature
-
Winfried Nöth
Abstract
The paper discusses the characteristics of icons in the framework of C. S. Peirce’s sign classification and distinguishes three approaches to the study of verbal iconicity. The first investigates how the form of spoken or written language is similar to the meaning it represents. Studies within this paradigm are concerned with sound symbolism and include research in the three subtypes of iconicity distinguished by Peirce: images, diagrams, and metaphors. The second paradigm enquires into how verbal forms echo verbal forms in self-reflexive ways that make words icons of words. Among its topics are rhyme, meter, parallelism, repetition as well as syntactic and semantic recurrence. The third is based on Peirce’s later insight that iconicity is also at the root of verbal symbols and indices, insofar as these signs evoke mental images that represent icons of their signification.
Abstract
The paper discusses the characteristics of icons in the framework of C. S. Peirce’s sign classification and distinguishes three approaches to the study of verbal iconicity. The first investigates how the form of spoken or written language is similar to the meaning it represents. Studies within this paradigm are concerned with sound symbolism and include research in the three subtypes of iconicity distinguished by Peirce: images, diagrams, and metaphors. The second paradigm enquires into how verbal forms echo verbal forms in self-reflexive ways that make words icons of words. Among its topics are rhyme, meter, parallelism, repetition as well as syntactic and semantic recurrence. The third is based on Peirce’s later insight that iconicity is also at the root of verbal symbols and indices, insofar as these signs evoke mental images that represent icons of their signification.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface and acknowledgements vii
- List of contributors ix
- Introduction 1
-
General
- Three paradigms of iconicity research in language and literature 13
- Iconicity of logic - and the roots of "iconicity" concept 35
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Sound Meets Meaning
- Iconic inferences about personality 57
- Phonemes as images 71
- Synaesthetic sound iconicity 93
- What’s in a mimetic? 109
- Iconicity in the syntax and lexical semantics of sound-symbolic words in Japanese 125
- A corpus-based semantic analysis of Japanese mimetic verbs 143
-
Language Meets Literature
- Iconicity in translation 163
- The days pass … 185
- Visual, auditory, and cognitive iconicity in written literature 207
- Don’t read too much into the runes 219
-
Grammar Meets Iconicity
- Iconicity in question 241
- Rethinking diagrammatic iconicity from an evolutionary perspective 259
- Author index 275
- Subject index 277
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface and acknowledgements vii
- List of contributors ix
- Introduction 1
-
General
- Three paradigms of iconicity research in language and literature 13
- Iconicity of logic - and the roots of "iconicity" concept 35
-
Sound Meets Meaning
- Iconic inferences about personality 57
- Phonemes as images 71
- Synaesthetic sound iconicity 93
- What’s in a mimetic? 109
- Iconicity in the syntax and lexical semantics of sound-symbolic words in Japanese 125
- A corpus-based semantic analysis of Japanese mimetic verbs 143
-
Language Meets Literature
- Iconicity in translation 163
- The days pass … 185
- Visual, auditory, and cognitive iconicity in written literature 207
- Don’t read too much into the runes 219
-
Grammar Meets Iconicity
- Iconicity in question 241
- Rethinking diagrammatic iconicity from an evolutionary perspective 259
- Author index 275
- Subject index 277
