The iconic, indexical, and symbolic in language
Overlaps, inclusions, and exclusions
The paper examines diverse forms of overlap between
iconic, indexical, and symbolic signs in language. Against linguists
who postulate such hybrids as “iconic symbols” or “indexical
symbols” in language, it argues that in such cross-classifications
of verbal signs, symbols are confounded with legisigns. On the other
hand, the paper also shows how symbols may include elements of
iconicity as well as elements of indexicality. Evidence is given
from examples of onomatopoeic words, diagrammatic icons, and proper
names. Furthermore, the paper points out the necessity of
distinguishing between the nature of verbal signs as such and the
one of the signs of their interpretants. It shows how verbal signs
that are predominantly symbols (as signs) are mentally interpreted
as icons (mental images) and indices (that refer to previous
situations of experience).
Article outline
- 1.The arbitrariness-motivation dualism and the icon-index-symbol
trichotomy
- 2.Alleged overlaps and vagueness vs. predominance
- 3.The three universal categories as the foundation of the
icon-index-symbol trichotomy
- 4.Included and excluded ingredients of iconicity, indexicality, and
symbolicity
- 5.Onomatopoeic words as symbols with iconic ingredients
- 6.Diagrammatic icons made up of symbols
- 7.Indexicals and proper names
- 8.How symbols are associated with iconic and indexical
interpretants
- 9.How the class of legisigns reduces the overlaps between symbols,
indices, and icons
-
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Cited by
Cited by 1 other publications
Keränen, Jarkko
2021.
Iconic strategies in lexical sensory signs in Finnish Sign Language.
Cognitive Semiotics 14:2
► pp. 163 ff.
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