Iconicity

<p>In functional-<a href="/facts/Cognitive_linguistics/Qu4DApFf">cognitive linguistics</a>, as well as in <a href="/facts/Semiotics/DuS3kK2g">semiotics</a>, iconicity is the conceived similarity or <a href="/facts/Analogy/LYcGaTdm">analogy</a> between the form of a <a href="/facts/Sign_(semiotics)/NnPPsndG">sign</a> (linguistic or otherwise) and its <a href="/facts/Meaning_(linguistics)/1L4WwLAP">meaning</a>, as opposed to <a href="/facts/Arbitrariness/4SBLd8Q7">arbitrariness</a> (which is typically assumed in <a href="/facts/Structural_linguistics/lbAbLF8h">structuralist</a>, <a href="/facts/Formalist_linguistics/HlwqCgKs">formalist</a> and <a href="/facts/Generative_linguistics/Pm1AMX5U">generative</a> approaches to linguistics). The principle of iconicity is also shared by the approach of <a href="/facts/Linguistic_typology/B72Bumgm">linguistic typology</a>.
</p><p>Iconic principles:
</p>
<ul><li>Quantity principle: conceptual complexity corresponds to formal complexity</li>
<li>Proximity principle: conceptual distance tends to match with linguistic distance</li>
<li>Sequential order principle: the sequential order of events described is mirrored in the speech chain</li></ul>

Iconicity open-in-new

Iconicity