A arbitrariedade nos trabalhos sobre iconicidade lexical
Palavras-chave:
Iconicidade, Arbitrariedade, Iconicidade Lexical, ConvencionalizaçãoResumo
É comum que estudos sobre iconicidade a apresentem em oposição à arbitrariedade formulada no Curso de Linguística Geral. Defendemos que tal oposição é inadequada e limita a compreensão da relação entre forma e sentido nas línguas naturais. Este artigo revisa essa concepção e propõe reformular o entendimento de arbitrariedade em estudos sobre iconicidade lexical. Para isso, analisamos o estado da arte em pesquisas sobre iconicidade lexical em línguas orais e de sinais, identificando usos recorrentes do termo arbitrariedade. Argumentamos que parte da literatura contribui para uma reprodução acrítica dessa noção e equipara objetos teóricos de naturezas distintas ao contrastá-la com a iconicidade. Concluímos que fenômenos icônicos são abundantes e influenciam processos como aquisição e processamento da linguagem. Ainda assim, ao adotar uma noção limitada de arbitrariedade, estudos sobre o tema negligenciam aspectos importantes sobre as formas icônicas, especialmente sua convencionalização.
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