Iconicity and generative grammar

Abstract This chapter analyzes the place of iconicity in the architecture of a generative grammar, in relation to the notion of diagrammatic iconicity. It presents the architecture of a generative theory and elaborates on the fundamental assumptions of current generative grammar about the relations between syntax, morphophonology, and semantics as part of an explanatory theory of the human Faculty of Language. After introducing and defining the scope of the relevant notion of ‘iconicity’, the chapter critically analyzes previous approaches to iconic relations in language from a generative perspective, and discusses the problems that arise when attempting to include a semiotic dimension in the generative architecture.