Regarding sound and musical iconicity: semiotic problematizations from a Peircean perspective

Abstract

This article aims to problematize iconicity in the domain of sound and musical phenomena from the semiotic perspective of Charles S. Peirce. In this regard, the processes of meaning production that unfold from the relationships we establish with sound events are discussed, focusing on their iconic features. The work seeks to overcome certain commonplaces in which sound iconicity is reduced to a single mode of meaningful functioning: that which limits the sound icon to sonic mimesis, operating a literal evocation of a concrete absent object through traits of resemblance (as exemplified by onomatopoeias), leaving out a series of complex phenomena that also fall within the realm of iconicity. We will argue that sound representamens imply particular arrangements of the meaningful matter, becoming configurations of meaning that possess specific traits (qualities) in their own configuration, constituting meaningful forms that will fully operate within the order of iconicity. Thus, the self-referential and self-representative nature of the sonic icon is emphasized, and its implications are considered in cognitive and discursive terms.