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Iconicity as Multimodal, Polysemiotic, and Plurifunctional.

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Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Iconicity in communication is more complex than a single property. This study reveals its multidimensionality across various communication modes and interactions for a richer understanding of human communication.

Keywords:
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Area of Science:

  • Communication Sciences
  • Linguistics
  • Semiotics

Background:

  • Iconicity, the creation of resemblance through coordinated bodily actions, is widely studied in human communication.
  • Comparing iconicity across diverse interactions (e.g., deaf, deafblind, hearing) and communication modes (e.g., sign, speech, writing) presents analytical challenges due to varying semiotic signals.
  • Existing paradigms of iconicity may be too broad, masking crucial details of human communicative potential.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To illustrate the multidimensionality of iconicity in co-present interactions.
  • To propose a more nuanced approach for analyzing and comparing iconicity across different communication modalities.
  • To integrate semiotic theories, including describing, indicating, depicting, and non-referential indexicality, into the study of iconicity.

Main Methods:

  • Drawing on semiotic approaches to language and communication.
  • Utilizing a model of language signaled via describing, indicating, and/or depicting.
  • Incorporating the concept of non-referential indexicality.

Main Results:

  • Iconicity is not a monolithic property but a multidimensional phenomenon.
  • Spoken ideophones and manual actions exhibit distinct combinations of depictive, descriptive, and indexical qualities.
  • Iconicity interacts with other semiotic systems (face, body) in multimodal utterances.

Conclusions:

  • The paradigm of iconicity as a single property is inadequate for comparative semiotics.
  • A multidimensional approach is necessary to capture the full range of human communicative potentialities.
  • This framework can inform theories of biosemiotics and multimodal language use.