ICONICITY AS A COGNITIVE PRINCIPLE IN LITERARY DISCOURSE

Аннотация

The article discusses one type of cognitive principle called iconicity. It is devoted to stylistic analysis of iconicity as a cognitive principle. The article outlines three distinct types of iconicity and their role in forming some cognitive stylistic devices. The article provides literary extracts to illustrate stylistic devices used. Key words: iconicity, proximity, sequencing, quantity, foregrounding, phonetic iconicity, conceptual information The term "iconicity" refers to the similarity between the verbal sign and its denotate. The issue of the conventionality and motive of linguistic signs serves as the foundation for the notion of iconicity. It is impossible to alter the sequence of homogenous phrases or the logical order of the event sequence. Linguists differentiate between three categories of iconicity. Both cognitive and stylistic research are very interested in the issue of the iconicity of language signs, which was established in the works of renowned academics such as Peirce, Haiman, Jakobson, Lotman, Eco, Kibrik. The semiotic theory of language's creator, C. Peirce, distinguished three categories of iconic signs—image, metaphor, and diagram—that indicate the relationship between the signified and the signifier based on similarities. From a cognitive-stylistic standpoint, metaphorical and figurative depictions of iconicity are particularly intriguing. We must stress that metaphorical representations of iconicity in our work are generally understood to mean iconicity expressed through all figurative language, including phraseological units, derived and compound words, and stylistic techniques for generating imagery (metaphor, metonymy, antonomasia, allusion, symbol, metaphorical epithet, and metaphorical paraphrase). In her work, G.G. Molchanova addresses stylistic iconicity in relation to the issue of stylistic device typology. In line with J. Haiman, she makes a distinction between the iconicity of quantity, distance, and sequence and classifies stylistic devices based on these categories. Gradation, zeugma, and phraseological epithet are examples of stylistic elements that are based on the iconic principle of distance. The violation of the concept of sequence serves as the foundation for the construction of stylistic devices such as chiasmus and inversion. All forms of parallelism, antithesis, and repetition are infused with the principle of quantity1. 189 SCIENCE AND INNOVATION IN THE EDUCATION SYSTEM International scientific-online conference The study by N.M. Dzhusupov, which focusses on the cognitive-stylistic analysis of the foregrounding strategy in discourse, also looks at the cognitive principle of iconicity. N.M. Dzhusupov claims that many of the foregrounding strategies, which the author views as involving parallelisms and language deviations, are founded on the principle of iconicity, suggesting a relationship between foregrounding and the cognitive principles of iconicity2. The iconic sequencing principle. It demands that the events in the text match those that actually happened. As an example, the text's overall phrase structure should follow a chronological sequence of events. It deals with the spatial, causal, and socially conditioned regularities of the text organisation that represent the actual occurrences in addition to chronological regularities. The iconic sequence principle (He arrived, he saw, he conquered) provides the foundation for linguistic phenomena including word order, tenses, and successive phrase structure in the text3. It should be mentioned that this rule may be wilfully broken in a literary work. G.G. Molchanova highlights stylistic phenomena that defy the text's logical sentence structure, including retrospection, prospection, represented speech, and stream of consciousness4. Such stylistic strategies as inversion and chiasmus, which position the inverted elements in "the active zone," are based on the breach of conventional word order. R. Langacker coined this phrase, which refers to the activation of the meanings' most conceptually significant subparts. The violation of iconic sequencing can be seen clearly in the novel “The sound and the fury” by William Faulkner. The main character in the novel is a disabled man Benjy. The story opens with his narration of past events which requires reader’s reconstruction of events and chronological orders of them. The writer uses this iconic sequencing in violated form so that he can illustrate Benjy’s subjective perception of time, but emphasizing inner consciousness over objective chronology. This was deliberately used by the author as a stylistic and cognitive tool and was so common in Modernist literature. The following extracts from the novel will illustrate this: “Caddy smelled like trees. We played in the branch and Caddy smelled like trees.”5… “Caddy was walking. Then she was crying. She was in the swing. Then Father died.”6 190 SCIENCE AND INNOVATION IN THE EDUCATION SYSTEM International scientific-online