Iconicity In English And Its Linguistic Cognitive Significance

Iconicity is the study of the similarity between linguistic form or structure and the concept or conceptual structure it represents. It can be regarded as a sort of analysis and study of language phenomena from a microscopic perspective. The form, length, complexity, or interrelationship of elements in a linguistic representation reflectso the form, length, complexity, or interrelationship of elements in the concept, experience or communicative strategy that the representation encodes. The relationship between form and concept is to a large extent motivated. Linguistic form is a reflection of cognition and experience.lconicity is a challenge to arbitrariness.lconicity in English is mainly reflected in distance, order and quantity.Distance iconicity means that a formal distance between elements corresponds to the conceptual distance between them. It is mainly manifested at syntactic and morphologic levels. In syntax, its expressions are in coordination, interclausal relation, to-orfrom-marked construction, transitivity, NP or relative clause, contraction, quotation or title, independence, and symmetry. In coordination, the formal distance between the conjuncts in a full form or a reduced form corresponds to the conceptual distance between them. In interclausal relation, the more two events or states are integrated semantically, or pragmatically, the more will the clauses be integrated grammatically. This is clearly reflected in causation and reduced gerund clause. In causation, the linguistic distinction between direct and indirect causations corresponds to the semantic difference between them. In reduced gerund clause, the formal distance between a reduced gerund clause and the main clause corresponds to the conceptual distance between them. In to-or from-marked construction, the linguistic zero vs. to/from contrast corresponds to the conceptual contrast between them. In transitivity, the degree of transitivity of verb corresponds to the conceptual distance between the verb and its object complement. In NP or relative clause, the order of pre-modifiers or the closeness between a relative clause and its head corresponds to the conceptual distance between the pre-modifiers or the relative clause and the head. In contraction. the contraction or non-contraction reflects the conceptual distance between the verb and its object complement. In quotation or title. the formal distance between two elements corresponds to the degree of grammatical constraint upon each other. In independence, the formal independence or non-independence of a verb and its object reflects their conceptual independence or incorporation. In symmetry, symmetric form corresponds to symmetric concept. In morphology, the expressions of distance jconicitv are in inflection and NP. In inflection, the order of affixes reflects the conceptual distance between them and their verb stem. In NR the order of number and case corresponds to the conceptual distance between them and the head.Order iconicitv means that the order of linguistic form or text structure corresponds to the conceptual or experiential order it represents. It is mainly reflected at syntactic and textual levels. In syntax, order iconicitv is reflected in temporal order and unmarkedness - markedness order. In temporal order. word order obeys the sequence of time. Other syntactic expressions: causation. conditionals and given - new order are compatible with temporal order. Unmarkedness -ivmarkedness order follows cognitive salience - non-salience order. In text, the order of text structure reflects cognitive sequence.Quantity iconicity means that linguistic complexity corresponds to the conceptual complexity or the degree of familiarity or predictability. It is reflected at morphologic and syntactic levels. The more morphologically or syntactically complex a form is, the more complex the concept or the content is. The pragmatic expressions in syntax are in social distance, the use of passive voice. the use of reflexive, and accessibility of topic. In social distance...