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Iconicity in Cognition and across Semiotic SystemsEdited by Sara Lenninger, Olga Fischer, Christina Ljungberg and Elżbieta Tabakowska
[Iconicity in Language and Literature 18] 2022
► pp. 79–102
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.