Iconicity, arbitrariness, and grammar in language and multimodal communication

Language is known for incorporating both iconicity (resemblance of form and meaning, e.g. “woof woof”) and arbitrariness (arbitrary association of form and meaning, e.g. “dog”) in its lexicon (Dingemanse et al., 2015), which obeys grammar, a system of even higher abstraction. In this course we will look at the interaction of these three basic features of human language and communication, in order to gain insight into how humans create abstract systems out of and with iconicity. We will focus on diverse languages and on multimodal communication, which also includes visual information. Firstly, the students will learn how to recognize different degrees of iconicity and arbitrariness in language, both from a synchronic and a diachronic perspective. Secondly, we will focus on the universal tendency of language and multimodal signs to increase their level of arbitrariness and grammatical systematicity over time. And lastly, we will use what we have learned to draw conclusions about general principles of linguistic and cultural evolution.