Iconicity in L2 learning

Abstract Most research on second language (L2) lexical learning assumes that there is an arbitrary relationship between symbols and their referents. This chapter takes a novel approach and explores the role of iconicity in L2 vocabulary learning, examining its effects in spoken languages, sign languages, and gestures accompanying speech. The picture that emerges is that iconicity is language-specific and thus not universally accessible to L2 learners. The chapter contends that across all modalities of language, iconicity has a positive effect in L2 vocabulary learning primarily when there is some connection to what is already in the learner’s repertoire: in the spoken modality, iconicity assists when there are phonetic, semantic, or cultural similarities between an L2 and learners’ native language; in the manual modality, iconicity helps when learners’ iconic gestures in their native language have similar forms as L2 target lexical signs; and iconicity in co-speech hand gestures assists lexical learning when L2 speech sounds are not too phonologically novel for a learner. Thus, in the context of L2 learning in speech, sign, and co-speech gesture, the effect of iconicity is significant but appears to be more local than previously assumed.