The ‘iconicity ring model’ proposed in this chapter depicts a lexicon’s evolutionary path from genuine iconicity (termed ‘primary iconicity’) to arbitrariness to another type of iconicity (termed ‘emergent iconicity’) that emerges from linguistic systematicity. The model captures the universality and language-specificity of sound symbolism and its role in lexical acquisition. Iconicity loss in ideophones illustrates the shift from primary iconicity to arbitrariness, whereas ideophonization exemplifies the shift from arbitrariness to emergent iconicity via systematicity. The two types of iconicity are mixed together in individual lexicons, providing a clue to the symbol grounding problem.
Article outline
1.Introduction
2.Primary iconicity in sound symbolism
2.1Universality
2.2Early acquisition
3.Emergent iconicity in sound symbolism
3.1Language-specificity
3.2Later acquisition
4.Shift from primary to emergent iconicity
4.1From primary iconicity to arbitrariness
4.2From arbitrariness to systematicity to emergent iconicity
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