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Iconicity of symmetries in language and in literature

  • Winfried Nöth
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Iconicity in Cognition and across Semiotic Systems
This chapter is in the book Iconicity in Cognition and across Semiotic Systems

Abstract

The paper discusses mirror symmetry, translational symmetry, and antisymmetry as the main types of symmetry of relevance to the study of language and literature. Based on the distinction between self-referential and alloreferential iconicity, it examines to what extent patterns of symmetry are iconic signs. Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, 16th century title pages of incunabula, George Herbert’s picture poem Easter Wings, palindrome words, and lines from Gertrude Stein’s poetry are studied with respect to the iconicity of their forms of symmetry. The paper distinguishes between symmetries in the surface structure and in the deep structure and describes symmetries in the deep structure of language and literature as mental diagrams.

Abstract

The paper discusses mirror symmetry, translational symmetry, and antisymmetry as the main types of symmetry of relevance to the study of language and literature. Based on the distinction between self-referential and alloreferential iconicity, it examines to what extent patterns of symmetry are iconic signs. Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, 16th century title pages of incunabula, George Herbert’s picture poem Easter Wings, palindrome words, and lines from Gertrude Stein’s poetry are studied with respect to the iconicity of their forms of symmetry. The paper distinguishes between symmetries in the surface structure and in the deep structure and describes symmetries in the deep structure of language and literature as mental diagrams.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents vii
  3. Preface and acknowledgements ix
  4. Introduction 1
  5. Part I. General framework
  6. The intricate dialectics of iconization and structuration 11
  7. The iconicity ring model for sound symbolism 27
  8. Iconicity as a key epistemic source of change in the self 47
  9. Indexicality and iconization in Mock ing Spanish 63
  10. Part II. Symmetry
  11. Iconicity of symmetries in language and in literature 79
  12. Chiastic iconicity 103
  13. Tonal iconicity and narrative transformation 135
  14. Part III. Visual and intermedial iconicity
  15. Władysław Strzemiński’s theory of vision and Ronald Langacker’s theory of language 155
  16. Iconicity for an iconoclast 173
  17. This is not a pipe 193
  18. Image superimposition in signed language discourse and in motion pictures 213
  19. Part IV. Gesture and sign language
  20. Iconicity in gesture 245
  21. Where frozen signs reclaim iconic ground 265
  22. Recurring iconic mapping patterns within and across verb types in German Sign Language 289
  23. Part V. Onomatopoeia and sound symbolism
  24. Echoes of the past 331
  25. The correlation between meaning and verb formation in Japanese sound-symbolic words 351
  26. The phonosemantics of the Korean monosyllabic ideophone ttak 369
  27. The iconicity of emotive Hijazi non-lexical expressions of disgust 389
  28. Author index 405
  29. Subject index 407
https://doi.org/10.1075/ill.18.05not

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents vii
  3. Preface and acknowledgements ix
  4. Introduction 1
  5. Part I. General framework
  6. The intricate dialectics of iconization and structuration 11
  7. The iconicity ring model for sound symbolism 27
  8. Iconicity as a key epistemic source of change in the self 47
  9. Indexicality and iconization in Mock ing Spanish 63
  10. Part II. Symmetry
  11. Iconicity of symmetries in language and in literature 79
  12. Chiastic iconicity 103
  13. Tonal iconicity and narrative transformation 135
  14. Part III. Visual and intermedial iconicity
  15. Władysław Strzemiński’s theory of vision and Ronald Langacker’s theory of language 155
  16. Iconicity for an iconoclast 173
  17. This is not a pipe 193
  18. Image superimposition in signed language discourse and in motion pictures 213
  19. Part IV. Gesture and sign language
  20. Iconicity in gesture 245
  21. Where frozen signs reclaim iconic ground 265
  22. Recurring iconic mapping patterns within and across verb types in German Sign Language 289
  23. Part V. Onomatopoeia and sound symbolism
  24. Echoes of the past 331
  25. The correlation between meaning and verb formation in Japanese sound-symbolic words 351
  26. The phonosemantics of the Korean monosyllabic ideophone ttak 369
  27. The iconicity of emotive Hijazi non-lexical expressions of disgust 389
  28. Author index 405
  29. Subject index 407
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