In functional-cognitive linguistics, as well as in semiotics, iconicity is the conceived similarity or analogy between a form of a sign (linguistic or otherwise) and its meaning, as opposed to arbitrariness. In linguistics and cognitive science, cognitive linguistics (CL) refers to the currently dominant school of linguistics that views the important essence of language as innately based in evolutionarily-developed and speciated faculties, and seeks explanations that advance or fit well into the current understandings of the human mind. ... Semiotics, or semiology, is the study of signs and symbols, both individually and grouped in sign systems. ... Several equivalence relations in mathematics are called similarity. ... Analogy is both the cognitive process of transferring information from a particular subject (the analogue or source) to another particular subject (the target), and a linguistic expression corresponding to such a process. ... Look up sign in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... In linguistics, meaning is the content carried by the words or signs exchanged by people when communicating through language. ...
Iconic principles:
Quantity principle: formal complexity corresponds to conceptual complexity
Proximity principle: conceptual distance tends to match with linguistic distance
Sequential order principle: the sequential order of events described is mirrored in the speech chain
Iconic coding principles are natural tendencies in language and are also part of our cognitive and biological make-up. Onomatopoeia may be seen as a kind of iconicity, though even onomatopoeic sounds have a large degree of arbitrariness. Natural is defined as of or relating to nature; this applies to both definitions of nature: essence (ones true nature) and the untouched world (force of nature). Natural is often used meaning good, healthy, or belonging to human nature. This use can be questioned, as many freely growing plants... Look up Cognition in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Look up onomatopoeia in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...
Contrary to popular belief, iconicity is common in the languages of the world, and occurs at all levels of linguistic structure (e.g., syntax and morphology as well as lexicon); iconic linguistic items fit the phonotactic constraints of their languages.
Iconicity, based as it is on conceptual mappings between form (phonology, syntax, etc.) and meaning (semantics), is a problem for these theories.
The presence of iconicity in spoken and signed languages at all levels of structure is a strong argument for linguistic theories ("cognitivist"theories) that treat form and meaning in an integrated fashion.
Iconicity can refer to the extent to which a non-signer can guess a sign's meaning (transparency) or to the extent to which a relationship between a sign and its referent is apparent to a non-signer (translucency).
Iconicity may refer to the ease with which a sign's meaning can be guessed (transparency), the extent with which it can be associated with its referent (translucency) or the extent to which a sign was actually historically motivated.
Iconic items were signs that looked like their referents; transparent productions represented a part or component of their referents (these would more usually be called hyponyms); and arbitrary productions bore no obvious relationship to their referents.
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