Limiting the Iconic

From the metatheoretical foundations to the creative possibilities of iconicity in language

Ludovic De Cuypere | University of Ghent

Hardbound – Available

ISBN 9789027243423 | EUR 110.00 | USD 165.00

e-Book –

ISBN 9789027290779 | EUR 110.00 | USD 165.00

Iconicity has become a popular notion in contemporary linguistic research. This book is the first to present a synthesis of the vast amount of scholarship on linguistic iconicity which has been produced in the previous decades, ranging from iconicity in phonology and morpho-syntax to the role of iconicity in language change. An extensive analysis is provided of some basic but nonetheless fundamental questions relating to iconicity in language, including: what is a linguistic sign and how are linguistic signs different from signs in general? What is an iconic sign and how may iconicity be involved in language? How does iconicity pertain to the relation between language and cognition? This book offers a new and comprehensive theoretical framework for iconicity in language. It is argued that the linguistic sign is fundamentally arbitrary, but that iconicity may be involved on a secondary level, adding extra meaning to an utterance.

[Iconicity in Language and Literature, 6] 2008. xiii, 286 pp.

Publishing status: Available
Published online on 19 September 2008

https://doi.org/10.1075/ill.6

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements | p. ix

Introduction | pp. 1–5

1. Language and reality in early Greek thought: Tracing back the roots of iconicity in language | pp. 7–30

2. "L'arbitraire du signe": A Saussurian dogma? | pp. 31–45

3. Iconicity: A semiotic approach | pp. 47–82

4. Jakobson's quest for the essence of language: A prelude to a theory of linguistic iconicity | pp. 83–90

5. Iconicity in language: General classification and specific principles | pp. 91–172

6. Cognitive foundations for iconicity in language | pp. 173–221

7. Double negation: An iconic account | pp. 223–249

Conclusions | pp. 251–255

Author index | pp. 275–277

Language index | p. 279

Subject index | pp. 281–286

“Growing out of the author's dissertation, this book reads every bit like a monograph by a seasoned linguist. The survey of the literature on the topic is thorough and the author's critiques of previous scholars' theories and constructs are detailed, careful, and balanced. Of all the chapters, Chapter 5 strikes this reviewer as the most substantive and impressive: De Cuypere analyzes major works on iconicity to argue that most of these authors are off the mark. You think hard and eventually agree that he makes sense. At the end of the book, you think hard again and decide that he is largely right. Then you realize that you have read a very good book, a very important book, a book that you would come back to for information and inspiration later in your work.”

Rong Chen, California State University, San Bernardino, on Linguist List 20-1353, 2009

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