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

Iconicity of symmetries in language and in literature

| Catholic University of São Paulo

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.

Article outline
  • 1.Types of symmetry exemplified by letter types
    • 1.1Mirror symmetry, vertical and horizontal
    • 1.2Rotational symmetry
    • 1.3Translational symmetry
    • 1.4Antisymmetry
    • 1.5Iconicity of the forms of symmetry in Alice’s Wonderland
  • 2.The iconicity of alloreferential and self-referential symmetries in language
    • 2.1Alloreferential iconicity
    • 2.2Self-referential iconicity
    • 2.3George Herbert’s alloreferentially symmetric Wings
  • 3.The self-referential iconicity of the title pages of incunabula
  • 4.The iconicity of palindromic words
  • 5.Token-type iconicity and symmetry
  • 6.Gertrude Stein’s translational symmetries
  • 7.A final remark on symmetry and iconicity in spoken language
  • References
Published online: 10 November 2022
https://doi.org/10.1075/ill.18.05not
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