Iconicity Applied in English Vocabulary Teaching

張丹

【Abstract】Iconicity is used everywhere， especially in our English vocabulary learning. The author mainly analyze a few applications of iconicity in English vocabulary teaching to gain a more effective way of remembering words. The author first explain the concept of iconicity， and introduce the use of iconicity from the following aspects， namely， phonetic iconicity， morphological iconicity， etymological iconicity， metaphorical iconicity， word order iconicity， semantic iconicity。

【Key words】phonetic iconicity；etymological iconicity；morphological iconicity

Pierce， the founder of American pragmatism and semiotics， put forward the semiotic trichotomy in the end of the nineteenth century， namely icon， symbol and index. Iconicity refers to the inescapable connections between the signifier and the signified of language， that is， between the form and content of language. In 1885， Haiman wrote in Natural Syntax that the meaning is similar and the form is similar. . From that time， a huge amount of linguists took a deep study in iconicity， expanding its range from the word to context and discourse， building connection between language and the world. And this paper mainly talk about how dose iconicity influence English lexical teaching And this paper mainly talk about how dose iconicity influence English lexical teaching.

1. Phonetic iconicity

Phonetic iconicity signifies the similarities between its pronunciation and the signifier. Among them， the most typical one is onomatopoeia in English. Most onomatopoeias imitate the sounds of nature or the objective world. To illustrate， dogs voice sounds like “bow-wow/woof-woof”， cats like “miaow” and etc. As a result of these words pronounce rather close to their real voice， it is easy for students to grasp its pronunciation. The pronunciation of “sl” is similar to the sound made when an object slides. In this sense， the meaning of many words with “sl” in the beginning is related to slide， for example， “slide， slope， slip， slick， slither， slipper and etc.” The “gl” is related to the flashing light， like “glisten， glow， glitter and glow”. The ending “nt” often has the meaning of short action， like” bunt， punt， stunt， runt”. The suffix “ump” often denotes a heavy or clumsy feeling， e.g. “dump， thump， bump， clump， rump， mump， lump， and etc.

2. Etymological iconicity

Etymological motivation is more convincing in explaining the meaning of words. （Zhang Weiyou： 2004） such as “l(fā)aconic” originated from the Latin word “Lacons”， which means concise and short， while “Lacons” refers to a tribe known for its simple life. In that sense， the expression “a laconic answer” refers to “a short answer”. Another example is “Pandora Box”， a story from Greek and Roman mythology. To retaliate for the piracy of fire by Prometheus， Zeus ordered Prometheus， the God of fire， to create the first woman， Pandora， by using clay. She was the symbol of “disaster”， because she accepted many gifts from gods that were harmful to human beings. Epimetheus， brother of Prometheus， forgot Prometheus advice and fell in love with Pandora. Driven by curiosity， Pandora opened a box filled with disasters and misfortunes where Prometheus was stored while Epimetheus was away. Since then， quarrels， plagues， wars， and misery have flooded the once peaceful and beautiful human society， leaving only hope in the box. Thus， Pandora signifies the source of disaster， and “open Pandoras box” seems to cause all kinds of disasters. Here are some phrases which come from biblical stories， such as： “rivers of living water， the field of blood， lamb of Passover， land of Nod and etc.” There is a moving story behind many words in English， so it is beneficial for language learners to know the source of these words and to use them skillfully.

3. Morphological iconicity

The morphological iconicity of English vocabulary mainly refers to the similarity between the spelling of words and the objective things described， which is particularly typical in Chinese， because there are a large number of Chinese characters which are pictographs， such as “人” ，“日”，“山” and etc. Although there are not many such words in English， they still exist such as： the spelling of the whole word is very similar to what it represents， like， zigzag， baggage， twist and etc. Some abbreviations are similar to what they refer to， for example， “Z， T-square， V-neck and etc. According to the principle of quantitative iconicity， the number of linguistic symbols is similar to the number of concepts. That is， the more linguistic symbols are， the more concepts and meanings they represent and the more information they convey. For example， the meaning of “apples” is more complex than that of “apple”， “apples” belongs to marked iconicity， while “apple” belongs to unmarked iconicity. Marked icons are often more explanatory and convey more semantics than unmarked icons. For example， “apples” expresses the meaning of “more than one “apple”. Another example is “worked” refers to the work has accomplished.

4. Conclusion

English vocabulary learning is the most basic step in English learning. Iconicity can provide us several distinguished methods to learn or remember. And the application of iconicity exists everywhere in our learning. This paper merely analyzes its utilization a few aspects. We should be more careful in our daily learning. And more researches will be carried out in future study.

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