defend = 'defend against'

Thu Dec 13 17:45:22 UTC 2012

'Iconicity', a concept borrowed from semiotics (and originally from Peirce) refers to parallelisms or similarities between things and linguistic expressions. In the particular case, semantic directness (as in 'direct object') is better expressed when there is nothing between the verb and its object. Confusingly, 'iconic' has a whole 'nother sense outside of linguistics, where it means something like the suggestions you made. But Arnold was using the semanticists sense.
Ain't polysemy grand?

Geoff

Geoffrey S. Nathan
Faculty Liaison, C&IT
and Professor, Linguistics Program
http://blogs.wayne.edu/proftech/
+1 (313) 577-1259 (C&IT)

----- Original Message -----

> From: "Jonathan Lighter" <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Sent: Thursday, December 13, 2012 12:12:17 PM
> Subject: Re: defend = 'defend against'

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster: Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject: Re: defend = 'defend against'
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------

> OK, but what does "iconically" mean?

> "Recognizably"? "Typically"? "Commonly"? "As one would expect"?
> "Visually
> on a page"? (Obviously I doubt the last.)

> JL

> On Thu, Dec 13, 2012 at 12:03 PM, Laurence Horn
> <laurence.horn at yale.edu>wrote:

> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster: Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> > Subject: Re: defend = 'defend against'
> >
> > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > On Dec 13, 2012, at 11:51 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> >
> > > Brevity for sure. But I'm a bit behind the times. What does
> > > "iconically"
> > > mean in this context?
> > >
> > > JL
> >
> > The closer the connection in form, the closer the connection in
> > reality.
> > This is a standard take in certain varieties of cognitive
> > linguistic
> > analyses, especially in the work of John Haiman.
> >
> > LH
> > >
> > > On Thu, Dec 13, 2012 at 11:11 AM, Arnold Zwicky
> > > <zwicky at stanford.edu>
> > wrote:
> > >
> > >> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > >> -----------------------
> > >> Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > >> Poster: Arnold Zwicky <zwicky at STANFORD.EDU>
> > >> Subject: Re: defend = 'defend against'
> > >>
> > >>
> > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > >>
> > >> On Dec 13, 2012, at 7:39 AM, Jonathan Lighter
> > >> <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> > >> wrote:
> > >>
> > >>> It may have something to do with people wanting to avoid
> > >>> prepositions
> > >>> whenever they can. But why? To conserve planetary oxygen? Just
> > >>> a
> > >> tentative
> > >>> SWAG.
> > >>
> > >> i've posted a number of times on "transitivizing P-deletion", a
> > syntactic
> > >> development that potentially serves two purposes: (a) brevity;
> > >> (b)
> > >> indicating, iconically, a tighter sematic/pragmatic bond between
> > >> verb
> > and
> > >> object than the P-marked variant does.
> > >>
> > >> arnold
> > >>
> > >> ------------------------------------------------------------
> > >> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> > >>
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > --
> > > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle
> > > the
> > truth."
> > >
> > > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >

> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> truth."

> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org