Abstract
Scholars interested in iconicity in language and/or literature have concerned themselves with the following questions. Is it valid to define iconicity based on a sign's being similar in quality to its object or referent? Is iconicity arbitrary or motivated? What iconic aspects are manifested in language structure or language change? How does iconicity on various linguistic levels contribute to the aesthetics of literature? Instead of continuing these extensively discussed issues, this study investigates how iconicity embodies or transmits what we may call-at least in terms of its effect-powerful verbal energy or verbal force. Arguing for iconicity as transmitting verbal energy, the present article concentrates on three particular issues: (1) accumulative homology (i.e., structural or semantic likeness permeating various linguistic levels); (2) iconicity as a metalanguage; (3) iconicity catalysing the release of energy through a fusion of words and world. For purposes of illustration, this paper uses examples from Wordsworth's The Prelude and from Zen discourse.
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