Iconic text strategies
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Friedrich Ungerer
Abstract
This paper takes the iconic approach to text interpretation beyond the traditional perspectives of iconic sequencing, iconic proximity and quantitative iconicity by claiming that for our comprehension of texts strategies we depend on the holistic or gestalt transfer from complex natural or human action patterns. Pursuing this line the article not only presents prototypical examples (guidebooks and manuals for the path strategy, the top-down structure of news stories for the sorting & weighting strategy and lyrical poems for the kaleidoscope strategy), but also discusses examples of strategy blends and strategy incorporation, focussing on the relationship between individual episodes and overarching strategies found in films such as Les favoris de la lune, Short Cuts, Night on Earth and Italiensk for Begyndere.
Abstract
This paper takes the iconic approach to text interpretation beyond the traditional perspectives of iconic sequencing, iconic proximity and quantitative iconicity by claiming that for our comprehension of texts strategies we depend on the holistic or gestalt transfer from complex natural or human action patterns. Pursuing this line the article not only presents prototypical examples (guidebooks and manuals for the path strategy, the top-down structure of news stories for the sorting & weighting strategy and lyrical poems for the kaleidoscope strategy), but also discusses examples of strategy blends and strategy incorporation, focussing on the relationship between individual episodes and overarching strategies found in films such as Les favoris de la lune, Short Cuts, Night on Earth and Italiensk for Begyndere.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface and acknowledgements vii
- List of Contributors ix
- Introduction: Insistent Images 1
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PART I. Iconicity and grammaticalization
- Putting grammaticalization to the iconicity test 17
- Iconic thumbs, pinkies and pointers 37
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PART II. Iconicity and the aural
- The physical basis for phonological iconicity 57
- Reading aloud and Charles Dickens’ aural iconic prose style 73
- Iconicity and the divine in the fin de siècle poetry of W.B. Yeats 91
- Is lámatyáve a linguistic heresy? 103
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PART III. Iconicity and the visual
- The beauty of life and the variety of signs 113
- Forms of restricted iconicity in modern avant-garde poetry 129
- Eco-Iconicity in the poetry and poem-groups of E.E. Cummings 155
- The language of film is a matrix of icons 173
- Liberature 191
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PART IV. Iconicity and conceptualization
- Meaning on the one and on the other hand 211
- Iconic text strategies 229
- ‘Damn mad’ 247
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PART V. Iconicity and structure
- Iconicity and the grammar–lexis interface 269
- Iconicity in the coding of pragmatic functions 289
- Double negation and iconicity 301
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PART VI. Iconicity and multimedia / intertextuality
- Iconicity in multimedia performance 323
- Author index 347
- Subject index 353
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface and acknowledgements vii
- List of Contributors ix
- Introduction: Insistent Images 1
-
PART I. Iconicity and grammaticalization
- Putting grammaticalization to the iconicity test 17
- Iconic thumbs, pinkies and pointers 37
-
PART II. Iconicity and the aural
- The physical basis for phonological iconicity 57
- Reading aloud and Charles Dickens’ aural iconic prose style 73
- Iconicity and the divine in the fin de siècle poetry of W.B. Yeats 91
- Is lámatyáve a linguistic heresy? 103
-
PART III. Iconicity and the visual
- The beauty of life and the variety of signs 113
- Forms of restricted iconicity in modern avant-garde poetry 129
- Eco-Iconicity in the poetry and poem-groups of E.E. Cummings 155
- The language of film is a matrix of icons 173
- Liberature 191
-
PART IV. Iconicity and conceptualization
- Meaning on the one and on the other hand 211
- Iconic text strategies 229
- ‘Damn mad’ 247
-
PART V. Iconicity and structure
- Iconicity and the grammar–lexis interface 269
- Iconicity in the coding of pragmatic functions 289
- Double negation and iconicity 301
-
PART VI. Iconicity and multimedia / intertextuality
- Iconicity in multimedia performance 323
- Author index 347
- Subject index 353