From Interaction to Symbol: A systems view of the evolution of signs and communication (Iconicity in Language and Literature)

Dedication......Page 6
Table of contents......Page 8
List of figures......Page 12
Acknowledgements......Page 14
Systems theory......Page 24
Why we need a theory......Page 26
Problems with philosophy......Page 29
Logical deduction......Page 35
Postmodern \"theory\"......Page 37
A systems view......Page 40
A holistic approach......Page 43
What is a definition?......Page 48
Information as difference......Page 52
Contiguous communication......Page 55
Indexical communication......Page 57
Iconic communication......Page 59
Symbolic communication......Page 62
Parainformation as meaning......Page 64
Communicating meaningful information......Page 66
Meaning and significance......Page 71
Deception......Page 74
Self-deception......Page 77
Metainformation as implied meaning......Page 79
More useful definitions......Page 89
Needs as motivators of behaviour......Page 94
Needs and emotions......Page 95
Types of needs......Page 99
Human uniqueness......Page 108
Humanism versus dogmatism......Page 111
From emotive vocalizations to bodily adornments......Page 114
Defining index......Page 117
Bodily signals and the beginnings of referentiality......Page 120
Bodily adornments as the first indexical signs......Page 124
From memory to consciousness......Page 128
Memory and the beginnings of culture......Page 136
Material culture as index......Page 142
When indexicality is mistaken for contiguity......Page 146
Indexical and iconic \"magic\"\n......Page 148
Brief history of iconic indexicality......Page 152
Photography versus painting......Page 155
Photography and the human face......Page 159
The birth of cinema......Page 168
The mirror and contiguous iconic indexicality......Page 173
Contiguous experience and the birth of television......Page 176
Television today – contiguity still reigns supreme......Page 179
Contiguity goes global......Page 181
Iconicity in animal communication......Page 184
From mimicry to imitation......Page 188
Mimetic culture......Page 190
From imitation to mimesis......Page 192
The birth of pictorial realism......Page 195
Fantastic representations......Page 201
Iconic roots of metaphors......Page 203
The thrills of visual realism......Page 206
Art and ideology......Page 207
Religion and realism in art......Page 211
The rediscovery of the body......Page 215
Physical space rediscovered......Page 217
Photography and the decline of realism in painting......Page 224
Why we enjoy pictures......Page 227
Linguistic iconicity and the limits of arbitrariness......Page 230
Defining symbol......Page 231
Indexical features of language......Page 233
The emotive features of language and music......Page 236
Phonetic iconicity......Page 238
Morphological and syntactic iconicity......Page 244
Iconic gestures......Page 247
The origins of language and the advantages of arbitrariness......Page 254
Discrete syntax for the (partly) discrete world......Page 255
Selective pressures on early language......Page 261
Language and the problem of reference......Page 265
The origins of arbitrariness......Page 268
How language produces meaning......Page 271
Other possible sources of language: sexual selection and gestures......Page 274
Language and the symbolic compulsion......Page 280
It\'s not all in language......Page 281
The excesses of language combinatorial machine......Page 286
The conceptual indulgence of philosophic discourse......Page 291
The humanities\' physics envy......Page 297
References......Page 304
Index......Page 320
The series Iconicity in Language and Literature......Page 324