Diagrammatic Iconicity Research Articles

Peirce’s iconicity and his image-diagram-metaphor triad revisited: complements to Stjernfelt’s Sheets, Diagrams, and Realism

Abstract This review article of Frederik Stjernfelt’s Sheets, Diagrams, and Realism (2022) argues that Peirce’s theory of iconicity with its subdivision into the image-diagram-metaphor triad must not be reduced to diagrammatic iconicity. The foundation of the triadic subdivision of the icon is not in Peirce’s diagrammatic logic but in Peirce’s cenopythagorean categories. A focus is on misinterpretations of Peirce’s concept of thirdness in the firstness of the icon. The paper argues that not only metaphors, but also comparisons, analogies, analogic arguments, and examples belong to the third class of icons.

Cognitive and semiotic determinants of sign order in gestural and pictorial event representations

The way people order signs in non-verbal event representations of events has been a topic of extensive research in recent decades, with conflicting findings. Based on a literature review, we distinguish the following factors that have been argued to influence sign order: (a) diagrammatic iconicity, (b) manipulation vs. construction events, (c) reversibility, (d) most common word order of L1, (e) the semiotic system (gesture, depiction) used, and (f) a putative “natural” Agent–Patient–Act order. To test the role of these factors, we conducted a study where Swedish participants observed events that varied with respect to reversibility and construction/manipulation status, and then had to communicate them to an addressee using gestures for half the stimuli. For the other half, they used sequences of simple drawings of the event participants and the action. The results showed the huge influence of the semiotic system (e) on sign order. There was a role of reversibility (c) only when gestures were used, while L1 word order (d) only had an effect when sequences of pictures were used. The “ontological status” of the Patient (b) was shown to affect the representations in both semiotic systems but was much stronger for gestures. Even the two most general factors (a) and (f) where shown to be sensitive to the type of semiotic system. Future studies of how such cognitive and semiotic determinants interact are needed to fully understand the phenomenon of sign order preference.

Diagrammatic Iconicity in EkeGusii: A relation between the structure of form and meaning

This paper mainly presents evidence for a relationship between language structure and meaning in EkeGusii, a Bantu language spoken in Kenya. The main argument is that the structure of language mirrors the structure of reality. A brief overview of other scholars demonstrates that diagrammatic iconicity shows universal tendencies. Five main ideas run down the discussion. Firstly, in EkeGusii, speakers sub-consciously cluster sounds around related meanings, evidencing gestalt and relative iconicity. Secondly, there is evidence of overlap of morphological and phonetic iconicity, an aspect of phonaesthesia. Thirdly, reduplication in certain infinitives demonstrates the reality of phono-iconicity in EkeGusii, augmented by unpleasant sound sequences. Fourthly, certain onomatopes in EkeGusii are actually diagrammatic, indicating that there is no one stop criterion for classifying overlapping types of icons. And finally, the paper posits that iconicity intersects with arbitrariness showing that language has both motivated and discrete symbols.

Iconicity in American Sign Language–English translation recognition

abstractReaction times for a translation recognition study are reported where novice to expert English–ASL bilinguals rejected English translation distractors for ASL signs that were related to the correct translations through phonology, semantics, or both form and meaning (diagrammatic iconicity). Imageability ratings of concepts impacted performance in all conditions; when imageability was high, participants showed interference for phonologically related distractors, and when imageability was low participants showed interference for semantically related distractors, regardless of proficiency. For diagrammatically related distractors high imageability caused interference in experts, but low imageability caused interference in novices. These patterns suggest that imageability and diagrammaticity interact with proficiency – experts process diagrammatic related distractors phonologically, but novices process them semantically. This implies that motivated signs are dependent on the entrenchment of language systematicity; rather than decreasing their impact on language processing as proficiency grows, they build on the original benefit conferred by iconic mappings.

SOBRE A ICONICIDADE DA FORMA DE MÃO Y

RESUMO Como parte de um projeto de pesquisa de dois anos, o estudo examina a iconicidade diagramática da forma de mão Y de duas línguas de sinais não-cognatas; a língua de sinais americana e a língua de sinais grega. Em uma amostra de sessenta e quatro sinais, e através de uma metodologia de leitura próxima, o estudo demonstra a associação da forma de mão específica com referentes do mundo real que têm simultaneamente forma redonda e angular (por exemplo, cilíndrica, cônica), ou apenas forma angular/linear. Também apoia a sua associação histórica com o antigo signo mano cornuta, abordando sua metonímia em significados relativos à quantidade, terra, vida, perda, luz e cavidade.

Diagrammatic iconicity explains asymmetries in Paamese possessive constructions

AbstractGrammatical asymmetries in possessive constructions are overtly coded in about 18% of the world’s languages according to the World Atlas of Language Structures What primarily motivates these grammatical asymmetries is controversial and has been at the crux of the “iconicity vs. frequency” debate This paper contributes to this debate by focusing on the grammatical asymmetries of Paamese possessive constructions, and looking for the primary motivating factor in their multidimensional experiential context. After a careful account of four experiential dimensions of distance (functional, affective, sociopragmatic, and embodied), the degrees of experiential distance are shown to systematically correspond to the degrees of formal distance of the possessive constructions used to refer to these experiences (e.g., direct or indirect suffixation of kinship and body part terms). Relevant anthropological and linguistic data concerning Paamese is used to explore whether this correspondence between language and experience is primarily motivated by iconicity or economy. I argue that diagrammatic iconicity is the primary motivating factor for the grammatical asymmetries in Paamese possessive constructions, and that economy can account for some, but not all cases. I also show that economy and iconicity can collaborate in motivating some cases, and thus do not necessarily need to be opposed.

A cognitive pragmatic approach to punctuation

A cognitive pragmatic approach to punctuation

Iconicity in instructional texts

Diagrammatic iconicity is usually investigated at the surface syntactic level of texts. In this paper, I try to show that a meaningful concept of iconicity cannot be found on this level in non-trivial instructional texts. Instead, we have to dive deeper into semantic and conceptual structure. I present a model of Conceptual Structure that can cope with the demands that understanding an instructional text puts on the reader, and after analyzing a concrete text (a cooking recipe), I show that the concept of control structure is of essential importance for the description of the mapping between a conceptual model and a text. Control structures can be expressed explicitly through linguistic means or be inherent to the semantics of lexical predicates. In both cases, the presence of a dynamic conceptual model is necessary in order to establish iconicity relations between the text and the underlying mental representation.

Empirically Observed Iconicity Levels of English Phonaesthemes

This paper aims to reveal to what extent the diagrammatic iconicity (i.e., form-meaning correspondences which are created by relating similar sets of forms with similar sets of meanings [Peirce, 1955, p. 104]) of English phonaesthemes (e.g., gl- in glitter, glisten, and glow) could manifest primary iconicity (i.e., iconicity that involves a sufficient similarity between sign and referent to allow the understanding that the former stands for the latter [Sonesson, 1997]). To serve the aim, the current research conducts a test, using a multiple-choice task in which groups of native English and Korean speakers choose the meanings of phonaesthemes in sets of aurally-presented nonsense English phonaesthemic words. If primary iconicity is carried by a phonaestheme, then both native and non-native listeners should be able to report with some consistency the putative meaning of the nonsense phonaesthemic words. If, on the other hand, a form-meaning correspondence is carried by secondary iconicity (where the existence of the sign-relation, given by convention or by being explicitly pointed out, is the precondition for noticing the similarity between sign and referent [Sonesson, 1997]), then neither language group is expected to deliver high correct guessing rates. The result showed that the purported meanings of sk- and tw- were correctly guessed by the Korean-speaking participants only, and those of cl-, gl-, sw-, gr-, sn-, and sq- were correctly guessed by the English-speaking participants only. The purported meanings of sp- and tr- were correctly guessed by neither language group. These findings show that individual phonaesthemes possess varying degrees of (primary) iconicity.

Paintings as “Visual Poetry”: Diagrammatic Iconicity in the Art of Juan Miró

Conceptual Metaphor Theory (Lakoff and Johnson, 1980) and work on multimodal metaphors (Forceville, 2006) has opened up a new approach to the study of language and other modalities. However, relatively few cognitive linguistic investigations of visual art have been performed. We analyzed paintings done by Spanish Surrealist Juan Miró (1893-1983), focusing on diagrammatic iconicity, i.e. how his pictorial elements are arranged structurally in ways that correspond to their meaning. In particular, we examined the artist’s paintings between 1940 and 1970, based on the model advanced by Hiraga (2005). Our results show that iconic mappings like SIMILARITY IN MEANING IS SIMILARITY IN FORM, MORE CONTENT IS MORE FORM, and SEMANTIC RELEVANCE IS CLOSENESS, function as cognitive principles prevalent in these paintings. The current study therefore supports the proposal that diagrammatic iconicity operates across different semiotic systems, and at the same time contributes to the description and explanation of artistic practices involving language and painting.

Continuity and quantity

Givón’s (1995) quantity principle about the diagrammatic iconicity of coding forms has mostly been investigated for topic continuity and nominal elements. The present paper considers its applicability both to participant continuity and the continuity of time, focussing on their interaction in the organisation of narrative discourse. As an additional test of the hypothesis, the paper studies historical data, examining the structuring roles of signals of participant and temporal continuities in Old English narrative prose. The findings indicate that the choice of signals of the continuities of time and participants follows the iconic quantity principle of longer and informationally-heavier forms encoding greater degrees of discontinuity. The paper also underlines the importance of text type and genre-specific factors in investigations of discourse-structural signals. Specifically for the Old English narrative data, the study provides further support for the discourse marker role ofþa‘then’ as distinct from other temporal expressions.

Diagrams, Formalism, and Structural Homology in Beckett’s Come and Go

C.S. Peirce’s definition of the iconic sign (within his second trichotomy of signs) has received special emphasis and widespread application in semiotic analysis of the theatre. However, one important type of icon, the diagram (Peirce subdivided icons into three types: images, diagrams, and metaphors), has received little attention in these studies and, to my knowledge, no attention at all as far as the message of the performance as a whole is concerned. In this essay I suggest a way of broadening the “classical” semiotics of theatre to include diagrams within the scope of application of the icon to this art. This is to be realized by emphasizing the explanatory power latent in diagrams to explicate the way the message of the performance as a whole is created and conveyed. In doing so, I attempt to address another lacuna in theatre semiotics concerning an important feature of the icon. Peirce emphasized the inherent ability of the icon to reveal new insights into its object, “for a great distinguishing property of the icon is that by the direct observation of it, other truths concerning the object can be discovered than those which suffice to determine its construction.”1 This property of the icon, which appears to have been neglected in semiotic analyses of theatre, is best exemplified in the functioning of diagrams. Accordingly, an analysis of the way diagrams function in this art may throw new light on the cognitive aspect of the theatrical enterprise. The performance of Beckett’s play Come and Go (filmed as part of the Beckett on Film project2) will serve here as a representative of a class of theatrical works whose semiotic mechanism is based on diagrammatic iconicity. According to Peirce, the resemblance between diagrams and their objects consists in structural homologies and not in “sensuous resemblance.” The icon includes, suggests Peirce, “every diagram, even though there be no sensuous resemblance between it and its object, but only an analogy between the relations of the parts of each.”3 Elsewhere he indicates that “many diagrams resemble their objects not at all in looks; it is only in respect to the relations of their parts that their likeness consists.”4 Structural homology is, thus, a kind of similarity based on analogous relations and as such is different in kind from sensuous similarity and more abstract. As Noth indicates in Handbook of Semiotics, “iconicity includes

Ikonisiteit en Afrikaanse reduplikasie

Iconicity and Afrikaans reduplication While the relationship between the form and meaning of a lexical item is in most cases seen as being arbitrary or unmotivated, there is a growing awareness that many reduplications are indeed motivated in that their form does resemble their referent in some way or other. This non-arbitrary relationship is best understood as being iconic in nature. The main focus of the paper is Afrikaans reduplication, understood as representing various types of diagrammatic iconicity. It will be argued that the iconic possibilities of a set of reduplicated speech elements should not be restricted by assuming semantic cores from which all meanings or functions of reduplications are then derived, and indicated, with reference to a wide range of examples mainly from recent Afrikaans prose, how these can be interpreted as being directly representative of various kinds of diagrammatic iconicity, such as repetition, intensification, duration and interruption. Key Words: iconic, reduplication, repetition, duration, interruption Kernbegrippe: ikonies, reduplikasie, herhaling, duur, onderbreking Journal for Language Teaching Vol.38(2) 2004: 334-348

Ikonizität in Personalpronomina

It has been shown by Haiman and many others within the functional-typological framework that iconicity (in particular diagrammatic iconicity) plays a significant role in the creation of complex linguistic signs in the domain of syntax and morphology. The present paper provides an answer to the question in which way and to which degree iconicity is involved in the emergence and grammaticalization of personal pronouns. In the first part, a theoretical framework for the identification of iconic structures in personal pronouns is developed. The second part shows which properties of personal pronouns and their paradigms are iconic and which properties are not. In the third part, it is argued that a functional explanation of the formal gestalt of personal pronouns and their paradigms has to assume at least two conflicting factors, iconicity (transparency of form facilitating cognitive processing) and the Empathy Hierarchy (resulting in the unmarkedness of the most salient person/number categories in discourse and the erosion of iconicity). The evidence provided leads to the conclusion that it is not possible to equate markedness with iconicity as is proposed within the framework of natural morphology.

Suppletion, natural morphology, and diagrammaticity

This paper challenges the widespread view of suppletion as nothing but morphologically nonfunctional diachronic residue. Within natural morphology suppletion has generally been treated as an unnatural' phenomenon that must be accounted for in extragrammatical terms. A richer notion of diagrammatic iconicity, however, inspired largely by Bybee's work, leads to an analysis in which suppletion in semantically generic, grammaticalized or grammaticalizing items fits quite well into the overall diagrammatic structure of inflecting languages in a way that is consistent with the main principles of natural morphology. I consider Bybee's view that all iconicity/structure should be regarded primarily as an epiphenomenal artifact of use and change but argue that some aspects of morphological change can most easily be understood if we grant some degree of psychological reality to diagrammaticity

Degrees of iconicity in the lexicon

Iconicity is an important part of language: e.g., there is substantial diagrammatic iconicity in the lexicon due to recurrences of form-meaning connections in morphemes, submorphemes, phonesthemes, and word-affinity relations. However, the term morpheme has been applied to phenomena which do not exhibit iconicity. And, differential polysemy across words constrains cross-lexical recurrence of meaning. It emerges that the lexicon exhibits degrees of iconicity, as defined by two competing tendencies for sound: one towards total iconicity, the other towards total non-iconicity (arbitrariness).