Sounding out ideas on language, vivid sensory words, and iconicity

Tag: arbitrariness

  • Arbitrariness, iconicity and systematicity in language

    Just out in Trends in Cognitive Sciences: a review paper by yours truly with Damián Blasi, Gary Lupyan, Morten Christiansen and Padraic Monaghan. It is titled “Arbitrariness, iconicity and systematicity in language”. You can download it here (PDF). Here is a simple summary: An important principle in linguistics is that words show no predictable relation between their form and […]