Violation of the iconicity of a language sign as an indicator of changes in cognitive focus (based on the material of the English language)

Petrova Inna Mikhailovna

The article presents the results of a study of the dynamics of cognitive focus due to the violation of the principle of iconicity of a language sign. The object of study is nominative and verbal binomials, for example, a day and a night and to sow and plow, which are considered as a single linguistic sign of diagrammatic iconicity. The study aims to establish the features of cognitive focusing provoked by the violation of the principle of iconicity. The cognitive focus in the work is understood as the speaker's attention on the relevant aspect of reality. As a research method, we use the method of determining the cognitive focus in relator structures and the analysis of the information component. English poetry is research material in this study. The conclusion states that the violation of the iconicity of the sign is connected with changes in the hierarchy of concepts in the speaker's mind, which are caused by the circumstances of the described situation, as well as with a change in the sequence of actions aimed at creating a certain pragmatic effect. The results of the study may find practical application in general linguistics courses, the practice of teaching English, as well as be of interest to researchers in the field of cognitive linguistics.

Keywords:diagrammatic iconicity, a language sign, binomials, cognitive focus, hierarchy of concepts, order of structure elements.