1887
  1. Home
  2. e-Journals
  3. Studies in Language. International Journal sponsored by the Foundation “Foundations of Language”
  4. Volume 44, Issue 1
  5. Article
Volume 44, Issue 1
  • ISSN 0378-4177
  • E-ISSN: 1569-9978
USD
Buy:$35.00 + Taxes

Abstract

Abstract

Linguistic iconicity has been studied since ancient times (e.g., Plato’s , see Cooper & Hutchinson 1997). Within modern grammatical description, this notion was mostly developed by Jakobson and Benveniste; nowadays, iconicity in language is even being experimentally tested (e.g., Blasi et al. 2016Diatka & Milička 2017). However, most studies on linguistic iconicity pertain to prosody, sound symbolism, or morphology; syntactic iconicity has been vastly underexplored. In this paper, we present two hypotheses concerning : (1) syntactic descriptions of natural language strings have an inherent structure which is isomorphic to that of representations in some other component of grammar or a non-grammatical system; or (2) linear order imposed on phrase structure is isomorphic to that in some other component of grammar or a non-grammatical system. We will argue in favour of the former, which constitutes a novel perspective on iconicity in grammar. We furthermore discuss the place that iconicity may have in the architecture of a generative system.

© John Benjamins Publishing Company
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1075/sl.19017.lac
2020-05-06
2024-10-10

  • From This Site

    /content/journals/10.1075/sl.19017.lac
    dcterms_title,dcterms_subject,pub_keyword
    -contentType:Journal -contentType:Contributor -contentType:Concept -contentType:Institution
    10
    5
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Anttila, Raimo
    1972 An introduction to historical and comparative linguistics. New York: The Macmillan Company.
  2. Alsina, Alex, Joan Bresnan & Peter Sells
    (eds.) 1997 Complex Predicates. Stanford: CSLI.
     [Google Scholar]
  3. Awodey, Steve
    2006 Category Theory. Oxford: OUP. 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198568612.001.0001
     https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198568612.001.0001 [Google Scholar]
  4. Baker, Mark
    1988 Incorporation: A Theory of Grammatical Function Changing, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
     [Google Scholar]
  5. Baus, Christina, Manual Carreiras & Karen Emmorey
    2013 When does Iconicity in Sign Language Matter?Language and cognitive processes28(3). 261–271. 10.1080/01690965.2011.620374
     https://doi.org/10.1080/01690965.2011.620374 [Google Scholar]
  6. Bidaud, Samuel
    2016 Le niveau phonosymbolique des morphèmes grammaticaux. Quaderni disemantica, 2 (nuova serie), 61-90.
     [Google Scholar]
  7. 2017 La Motivation Du Verbe Tchèque. Studies about languages, 31. 23–35. doi:  10.5755/j01.sal.0.31.17894
     https://doi.org/10.5755/j01.sal.0.31.17894 [Google Scholar]
  8. Bell, Sarah
    1983 Advancements and ascensions in Cebuano. InDavid Perlmutter (ed.) Studies in Relational Grammar 1, 143–218. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  9. Bever, Thomas
    1970 The cognitive basis for linguistic structures. InRobert Hayes (ed.) Cognition and Language Development, 279–362. New York: Wiley & Sons.
     [Google Scholar]
  10. Blasi, Damian, Søren Wichmann, Harald Hammarström, Peter F. Stadler, & Morten H. Christiansen
    2016 Sound-meaning association biases evidenced across thousands of languages. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences113(39). 10818–10823. doi:  10.1073/pnas.1605782113
     https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1605782113 [Google Scholar]
  11. Bravo, Ana, Luis García Fernández, & Diego G. Krivochen
    2015 On Auxiliary Chains: Auxiliaries at the Syntax-Semantics Interface. Borealis: An International Journal of Hispanic Linguistics4(2). 71–101. doi:  10.7557/1.4.2.3612
     https://doi.org/10.7557/1.4.2.3612 [Google Scholar]
  12. Chomsky, Noam
    1957 Syntactic Structures. The Hague: Mouton.
     [Google Scholar]
  13. 1965 Aspects of the Theory of Syntax. Cambridge, MA.: MIT Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  14. 1970 Remarks on nominalization. InR. Jacobs and P. Rosenbaum (eds.) Readings in English Transformational Grammar. Waltham: Ginn. 184–221.
     [Google Scholar]
  15. 1981 Lectures on Government and Binding. Dordrecht: Foris.
     [Google Scholar]
  16. 1995 The Minimalist Program. Cambridge, MA.: MIT Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  17. 2013 Problems of Projection. Lingua130. 33–49. 10.1016/j.lingua.2012.12.003
     https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lingua.2012.12.003 [Google Scholar]
  18. Collins, Chris
    2017 Merge(X, Y) = {X, Y}. InLeah Bauke & Andreas Blühmel (eds.) Labels and Roots. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. 47–68. 10.1515/9781501502118‑003
     https://doi.org/10.1515/9781501502118-003 [Google Scholar]
  19. Comrie, Bernard
    1985 Aspect. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  20. Cooper, John M. and Douglas S. Hutchinson
    1997 Plato. Complete Works. Indianapolis, IN: Hackett Publishing Company.
     [Google Scholar]
  21. Culicover, Peter & Ray Jackendoff
    2005 Simpler Syntax. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199271092.001.0001
     https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199271092.001.0001 [Google Scholar]
  22. Dalrymple, Mary
    2001 Lexical Functional Grammar (Syntax and Semantics 34). New York: Academic Press. 10.1163/9781849500104
     https://doi.org/10.1163/9781849500104 [Google Scholar]
  23. Diatka, Vojtěch. & Jiří Milička
    2017 The effect of iconicity flash blindness. InAngelika Zirker, Mathhias Bauer, Olga Fischer & Christina Ljunberg (eds.), Dimensions of Iconicity. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, doi:  10.1075/ill.15.01dia
     https://doi.org/10.1075/ill.15.01dia [Google Scholar]
  24. Dirven, René, Günter Radden
    2006 La base cognitive du langage: langue et pensée. InNicole Delbecque (ed.) Linguistique cognitive. Comprendre comment fonctionne le langage, 17–47. Bruxelles: De Boeck Université – Duculot.
     [Google Scholar]
  25. Elleström, Lars
    2016 Visual Iconicity in Poetry: Replacing the Notion of “Visual Poetry”. Orbis Litterarum71(6). 437–472. 10.1111/oli.12112
     https://doi.org/10.1111/oli.12112 [Google Scholar]
  26. Filip, Hana
    2014 Biaspectual Verbs: A Marginal Category? (withYulia Zinova). Proceedings of the Tenth Tbilisi Symposium on Language, Logic and Computation, Gudauri, Georgia.
     [Google Scholar]
  27. Foley, William A., & Robert D. Van Valin, Jr.
    1984 Functional syntax and universal grammar. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  28. Fodor, Jerry
    1983 The modularity of mind: an essay on faculty psychology. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press. 10.7551/mitpress/4737.001.0001
     https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/4737.001.0001 [Google Scholar]
  29. 2008 LOT 2: The Language of Thought Revisited. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199548774.001.0001
     https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199548774.001.0001 [Google Scholar]
  30. Givón, Talmy
    1985 Iconicity, isomorphism, and non-arbitrary coding in syntax. InJohn Haiman (ed.) Iconicity in Syntax, 187–220. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 10.1075/tsl.6.10giv
     https://doi.org/10.1075/tsl.6.10giv [Google Scholar]
  31. Glynn, D.
    2007: Iconicity in the grammar–lexis interface in Iconicity. InFISCHER, O. – LJUNGBERG, C. (eds.), Language and Literature, Amsterdam: John Benjaminsp.269-289
     [Google Scholar]
  32. Goldberg, Adele
    2006 Constructions at Work: the nature of generalization in language. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  33. Grice, H. Paul
    1975 Logic and Conversation. InPeter Cole & Jerry Morgan (eds.) Syntax and Semantics, Vol.3, Speech Acts. New York: Academic Press. 41–58.
     [Google Scholar]
  34. Grimm, Reinhold
    2008 Concerning the range of iconic poetry: With examples from the works of G. Kunert and H. Teschke. Orbis Litterarum63. 441–463. 10.1111/j.1600‑0730.2008.00933.x
     https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0730.2008.00933.x [Google Scholar]
  35. Gvoždiak, Vit
    2014 Jakobsonova sémiotické teorie. Olomouc: Univerzita Palackého v Olomouci.
     [Google Scholar]
  36. Haiman, John
    1980 The iconicity of grammar: Isomorphism and motivation. Language56. 515–540. 10.2307/414448
     https://doi.org/10.2307/414448 [Google Scholar]
  37. 1983 Iconic and economic motivation. Language59. 781–819. 10.2307/413373
     https://doi.org/10.2307/413373 [Google Scholar]
  38. 1985 Natural syntax: Iconicity and erosion. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 10.1075/tsl.6
     https://doi.org/10.1075/tsl.6 [Google Scholar]
  39. Hale, Kenneth & Samuel J. Keyser
    1997 The basic elements of argument structure. MIT working Papers in Linguistics32. 1–47. Available online atlingphil.mit.edu/papers/hale/papers/hale012.pdf
     [Google Scholar]
  40. Hauser, Marc; Noam Chomsky & William Tecumseh Fitch
    2002 The faculty of language: what is it, who has it, and how did it evolve?Science298(5598). 1569–1579. 10.1126/science.298.5598.1569
     https://doi.org/10.1126/science.298.5598.1569 [Google Scholar]
  41. Hinton, Leanne, Johanna Nichols & John J. Ohala
    1994 Sound Symbolism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  42. Hjelmslev, Louis
    1935 La catégorie des cas: étude de grammaire générale, Acta Jutlandica, díl 1, Universitetsforlaget.
     [Google Scholar]
  43. 1961 Prolegomena to a theory of language. Madison, WI: The University of Wisconsin Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  44. Itkonen, Esa
    1994 Iconicity, analogy, and universal grammar. Journal of Pragmatics22. 37–53. 10.1016/0378‑2166(94)90055‑8
     https://doi.org/10.1016/0378-2166(94)90055-8 [Google Scholar]
  45. Jakobson, Roman
    1971 Selected Writings II. Hague-Paris: Mouton.
     [Google Scholar]
  46. Jackendoff, Ray
    1983 Semantics and Cognition. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  47. Jakobson, R - Waugh, R. L.
    1979: The Sound Shape of Language. Brighton: The Harvester Press.
  48. Jackendoff, Ray
    1987 Consciousness and the Computational Mind. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  49. 2002 Foundations of Language. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198270126.001.0001
     https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198270126.001.0001 [Google Scholar]
  50. Kayne, Richard
    1994 The Antisymmetry of Syntax. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  51. Kopečný, František
    1962 Slovesný vid v češtině. Nakl. Československé Akademie Věd.
     [Google Scholar]
  52. Krivochen, Diego G.
    2016 Divide and…conquer? On the limits of algorithmic approaches to syntactic structure. Czech and Slovak Linguistic Review1. 15–38.
     [Google Scholar]
  53. 2018 Aspects of Emergent Cyclicity in Language and Computation. Reading: University of Reading dissertation.
  54. Lacková, Ludmila
    2018 A Linguistic Approach to Protein Folding: Towards a Semiotic Description of Living Systems. Olomouc: Palacky University dissertation.
  55. Ladusaw, William A.
    1980 Polarity sensitivity as inherent scope relations. Bloomington, IN: University of Iowa, Indiana University Linguistics Club.
     [Google Scholar]
  56. Langendonck, Willy van
    2010 Iconicity. InDirk Geeraerts and Hubert Cuyckens (eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Cognitive Linguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi:  10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199738632.013.0016
     https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199738632.013.0016 [Google Scholar]
  57. Lecercle, J.J.
    2001 Of Markov chains and upholstery buttons: “Moi. madame. votre chien ... ”. InFischer, O. – Ljungberg, C. (eds.), Language and Literature. The Motivated sign : iconicity in language and literature 2, Amsterdam: John Benjamins, p.289-305. 10.1075/ill.2.21lec
     https://doi.org/10.1075/ill.2.21lec [Google Scholar]
  58. May, Robert
    1985 Logical Form: Its Structure and Derivation. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  59. McCawley, James D.
    1968 Concerning the base component of a transformational grammar. Foundations of Language4. 243-269.
     [Google Scholar]
  60. 1998 The Syntactic Phenomena of English. [2nd Edition] Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
  61. Monneret, Philippe
    2003 Le sens du signifiant. Implications linguistiques et cognitives de la motivation. Paris: Honore Champion.
     [Google Scholar]
  62. Newmeyer, Frederick
    1992 Iconicity and Generative Grammar. Language68(4). 756–796. 10.1353/lan.1992.0047
     https://doi.org/10.1353/lan.1992.0047 [Google Scholar]
  63. Nübler, Norbert
    2017 ITERATIVNOST. InPetr Karlík, Marek Nekula & Jana Pleskalová (eds.), CzechEncy – Nový encyklopedický slovník češtiny. URL: https://www.czechency.org/slovnik/ITERATIVNOST
     [Google Scholar]
  64. Nuckolls, Janis B.
    1999 The Case for Sound Symbolism. Annual Review of Anthropology. 28: 225–252. 10.1146/annurev.anthro.28.1.225
     https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.anthro.28.1.225 [Google Scholar]
  65. Osborne, Timothy
    2005 Beyond the Constituent: A Dependency Grammar Analysis of Chains. Folia LinguisticaXXXIX/3–4. 251–297.
     [Google Scholar]
  66. Poldauf, Ivan
    1964 Souhrnný pohled na vid v nové češtině. Slovo a slovesnost25. 46–56.
     [Google Scholar]
  67. Post, Emil
    1943 Formal Reductions of the General Combinatorial Decision Problem. American Journal of Mathematics65(2). 197–215. 10.2307/2371809
     https://doi.org/10.2307/2371809 [Google Scholar]
  68. Postal, Paul M.
    2010 Edge-Based Clausal Syntax. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press. 10.7551/mitpress/9780262014816.001.0001
     https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/9780262014816.001.0001 [Google Scholar]
  69. Pršir, Tea. & Anne-Catherine Simon
    2013 Iconic interpretation of rhythm in speech. InSylvie Hancil & Daniel Hirst (eds.) Prosody and Iconicity, 161–180. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. 10.1075/ill.13.09prs
     https://doi.org/10.1075/ill.13.09prs [Google Scholar]
  70. Radeva-Bork, Theodora
    2012 Single and Double Clitics in Adult and Child Grammar. Frankfurt: Peter Lang. 10.3726/978‑3‑653‑02242‑1
     https://doi.org/10.3726/978-3-653-02242-1 [Google Scholar]
  71. Reinhart, Tanya
    1976 The Syntactic Domain of Anaphora. Cambridge, MA: MIT dissertation.
  72. Saddy, Douglas
    2018 Syntax and Uncertainty. InAngel Gallego & Roger Martin (eds.) Language, Syntax, and the Natural Sciences, 316–332. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/9781316591529.017
     https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316591529.017 [Google Scholar]
  73. Saddy, Douglas & Diego G. Krivochen
    2016 ‘Emergent Oscillations and Cyclicity: Physical Aspects of Frustrated Cognitive Systems’. Paper presented atFirst International Symposium on the Physics of Language, Tokyo: Sophia University, 4–5 March, 2006.
     [Google Scholar]
  74. Sadowski, P.
    2001: The sound as an echo to the sense: The iconicity of English gl- words. InFischer, O. – Ljungberg, C. (eds.), Language and Literature. The Motivated sign : iconicity in language and literature 2, Amsterdam: John Benjamins69-89. 10.1075/ill.2.09sad
     https://doi.org/10.1075/ill.2.09sad [Google Scholar]
  75. Sapir, Edward
    1933 Language. InEdwin R. A. Selgiman & Alvin Johnson, Encyclopædia of the Social Sciences, vol.9, 155–169. London: Macmillan.
     [Google Scholar]
  76. Saussure, Ferdinand de
    1916 Cours de linguistique générale, Payot,. Paris.
  77. Saussure, F. D.
    (1959) Course in general linguistics. New York Philosophical Library
     [Google Scholar]
  78. Schachter, Paul
    1983 Explaining auxiliary order. InHeny, F., Richards, B. (eds.), Linguistic categories: auxiliaries and related puzzles Vol 2, 145–204. Dordrecht: Reidel. 10.1007/978‑94‑009‑6992‑6_5
     https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-6992-6_5 [Google Scholar]
  79. Schmerling, Susan F.
    1975 Asymmetric Conjunction and rules of Conversation. InPeter Cole & Jerry Morgan (eds.) Syntax and Semantics, Vol. 3: Speech Acts, 211–231. New York: Academic Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  80. 2018 Sound and Grammar: Towards a Neo-Sapirian Theory of Language. Leiden: Brill.
     [Google Scholar]
  81. Speas, Margaret
    1990 Phrase Structure in Natural Language. Dordrecht: Kluwer. 10.1007/978‑94‑009‑2045‑3
     https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-2045-3 [Google Scholar]
  82. Tesnière, Lucien
    1959 Éléments de syntaxe structural. Paris: Klincksieck.
     [Google Scholar]
  83. Tollis, Francis
    2005 Le grammème comme signe chez Gustave Guillaume: une biunivocité idéale souvent prise en défaut (sémiologie / systématique linguistiques et analogie). Cahiers de linguistique analogique5–40.
     [Google Scholar]
  84. Townsend, David J., & Thomas G. Bever
    2001 Sentence Comprehension: The Integration of Habits and Rules. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. 10.7551/mitpress/6184.001.0001
     https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/6184.001.0001 [Google Scholar]
  85. Turing, Alan
    1936 On Computable Numbers, with an Application to the Entscheidungsproblem, Proceedings of the London Mathematical Society42(2). 230–265.
     [Google Scholar]
  86. Uriagereka, Juan
    2008 Syntactic Anchors: On Semantic restructuring. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/CBO9780511481482
     https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511481482 [Google Scholar]
  87. 2012 Spell Out and the Minimalist Program. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  88. 2014 Regarding the Third Factor: Arguments for a CLASH model. InPeter Kosta, Steven L. Franks, Teodora Radeva-Bork & Lilia Schürcks (eds.), Minimalism and Beyond: Radicalizing the interfaces, 363–391. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company.
     [Google Scholar]
  89. Vachek, Josef
    1976 Selected Writings in English and General Linguistics. Prague: Academia. 10.1515/9783110803853
     https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110803853
  90. Van Langendonck, Willy
    2010 Iconicity. InDirk Geeraerts and Hubert Cuyckens (eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Cognitive Linguistics, pp.394-419. Oxford: OUP.
     [Google Scholar]
  91. Waugh, Linda R.
    1994 Degrees of iconicity in the Lexicon. Journal of Pragmatics22. 55–70. 10.1016/0378‑2166(94)90056‑6
     https://doi.org/10.1016/0378-2166(94)90056-6 [Google Scholar]
  92. Wundt, Wilhelm
    1900 to 1920 Völkerpsychologie (Cultural Psychology), 10Volumes, Vol.1, 2. Die Sprache (Language); Vol.3. Die Kunst (Art); Vol4, 5, 6. Mythos und Religion (Myth and Religion); Vol7, 8. Die Gesellschaft (Society); Vol9. Das Recht (Right); Vol10. Kultur und Geschichte (Culture and History). Leipzig: Engelmann.
  93. Zeeman, Christopher
    1977 Catastrophe theory: selected papers 1972–1977. Cambridge, MA: Addison-Wesley.
     [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1075/sl.19017.lac
Loading
Iconicity in syntax and the architecture of linguistic theory
Studies in Language. International Journal sponsored by the Foundation “Foundations of Language” 44, 95 (2020); https://doi.org/10.1075/sl.19017.lac
/content/journals/10.1075/sl.19017.lac
/content/journals/10.1075/sl.19017.lac
Loading

Data & Media loading...

  • Article Type: Research Article
Keyword(s): iconicity; linguistic theory; syntax; transformational grammar

Most Cited

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was successful
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error